9 Oct 2009

Mueller wins Nobel literature prize

7:46 am on 9 October 2009

The 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to the Romanian-born German author, Herta Mueller.

The 56-year-old is known for her depiction of life under the rule of the late Romanian communist leader, Nicolae Ceausescu.

Mueller was born to a family from Romania's German minority and her mother was deported to a labour camp in the Soviet Union after World War II, the BBC reports.

She emigrated to Germany in 1987, after being dismissed from her job in Romania during the 1970s due to her refusal to co-operate with the regime's secret police.

Mueller's initial works were smuggled out of the country, while in later years she was awarded several literary prizes, including the Irish Republic's Impac Award in 1998.

Only a few of the author's works have been translated into English, including The Passport(1986), The Land of Green Plums (1994) and The Appointment.

Last year, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio won the Nobel Prize for Literature, while British writer Doris Lessing won in 2007.