[1] His father Christian Branner, who died when Hans was five, was a headmaster and his maternal grandfather H.C. Frederikson founded the local school (Ordrup Gymnasium).
[2] Branner studied philology at the University of Copenhagen[1] and prior to becoming a writer he made an unsuccessful attempt at an acting career which he gave up in 1923 to work for a publishing house.
[4] This was followed in 1937 by his novel Barnet leger ved Stranden (The Child Is Playing by the Beach)[4] and a collection of short stories, Om lidt er vi borte (In a Little While We Are Gone) in 1939.
[1] In 1944 he published the collection To Minutters Stilhed (Two Minutes of Silence) which was placed at number 42 in the Danish book of the century list produced by Politiken in 1999.
[10] The themes used by Kafka are reflected in Rytteren (1949; The Riding Master, 1951); a short novel by Branner that won De Gyldne Laurbær (The Golden Laurel) literary award in 1950.