Storyteller Hans Christian Andersen born April 2, 1930, in Odense, Denmark

Hans Christian Andersen, Scissors & paper cut-out, Ugly duckling, pen & inkwell and Ugly duckling, pen & inkwell
From Bicentenary of Birth Hans Cristian Andersen
Issued by Denmark’s post office March 2, 2005
Designers:
Eric Mourier and Mette Mourier
Engraver: Lars Sjööblom

Hans Christian Andersen. Author, artist, and storyteller. World-famous for his fairy tales and his own life story of transformation from ugly duckling to an admired swan.

It all started in Odense April 2^nd, 1805 in the small yellow corner house where Andersen was born. A century later in 1908 the iconic house was turned into a museum in honor of the famous author. Since then the museum has collected manuscripts, paper cuts, drawings and other artistic works together with artefacts from Andersen’s life. Today, Museum Odense possesses comprehensive collections that illustrate the richness of Andersen’s life and artistic production. Hans Christian Andersen – Museum Odense

 

Hans Christian Andersen was a product of two towns, two social environments, two worlds and two ages. Both as a man and as a writer he thus continually developed and changed, but was also in constant dialogue with himself and even at times at war with himself. Thus his social rise provides the direct and indirect motif in many of his tales, novels and plays, both as a productive source in his search for a new and more comprehensive identity and as a source of perpetual and unresolved traumas. 
Hans Christian Andersen – a short biography (sdu.dk) has an interesting bio on Andersen.