Romanian-born German writer Herta Müller takes the Nobel Prize for literature

October 8, 11:57 PMGermany Headlines ExaminerBuffy Naillon

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Not since Guenther Grass won the Nobel Prize in Literature a decade ago has a German writer taken home literature’s top prize. But it was announced today that German-language writer, Herta Müller, was awarded this year’s literature award. According to CNN, Müller is only the 12th woman writer since the awards were created in 1901.

Müller was born in a German enclave of Romania in 1953. The Romania of her youth was ruled by dictator, Nicolae Ceau?escu. According to The Local, her background heavily influenced her writing. The writer was eventually forbidden to publish in Romania, because her works were critical of Ceau?escu.

She studied German and Romanian literature at university in Timi?oara. Müller later spent time working at a factory before making her literary debut in 1982 with Niederungen. The Romanian government censored this collection of short stories, but the book was later released in Germany without censorship.

According to CNN, she is to receive 10 millsion Swedish crowns--approximately $1.4 million.

Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, extended her congratulations to the writer. Merkel said to reporters that it was an important sign that 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, that a German writer could win the prize.

Müller calls Berlin home these days, according to The Local. She has been a member of the Germany Academy for Language and Literature (Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung) since 1995.

Atemschaukel is her most recent work. Some of her other works include Drückender Tango ("Oppressive Tango"), Angekommen wie nicht da ("Arrived As If Not There"), Der fremde Blick oder das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne ("The Foreign View, or Life Is a Fart in a Lantern"), and Der fremde Blick oder das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne ("The Foreign View, or Life Is a Fart in a Lantern"). Very little of her writing is known outside the German-speaking world, according to The Local.