Herta Müller has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature, according to the Nobel website. The announcement applauded Müller, a member of the Romanian-born, German-speaking minority, as a writer “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” In a statement released by her publisher in Germany, where she moved in 1987 to flee the Romanian dictatorship, she said, “I am very surprised and still cannot believe it.... I can’t say anything more at the moment.” Müller’s first collection of stories, Niederungen, or Nadirs, was published in Romania in 1982, and promptly censored by the communist government. In 1984 came its uncensored version in Germany and a new collection, Drückender Tango, in Romania.

The Nobel website says of the books: “In these two works, Müller depicts life in a small, German-speaking village and the corruption, intolerance and repression to be found there.” Müller’s father served in the Waffen SS during World War II, and her mother was incarcerated for five years in a soviet work camp. A more recent book, Atemschaukel, portrays the life of German Romanians exiled to the Soviet Union. Müller received 10 million krona, or $1.4 million, as the monetary portion of her prize.