Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in

Nițchidorf Nițchidorf (literally " Niczky's village"; german: Nitzkydorf; hu, Niczkyfalva, originally ''Kutas'') is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Blajova ( hu, Balázsd or ''Balázsfalva''), Duboz ( hu, Temesdoboz) a ...

(german: Nitzkydorf, link=no),

Timiș County Timiș () is a county ('' județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. T ...

in Romania, her native language is German. Since the early 1990s, she has been internationally established, and her works have been translated into more than twenty languages. Müller is noted for her works depicting the effects of violence, cruelty and terror, usually in the setting of the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...

under the repressive

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

regime which she has experienced herself. Many of her works are told from the viewpoint of the German minority in Romania and are also a depiction of the modern history of the Germans in the

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

and

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. Her much acclaimed 2009 novel ''

The Hunger Angel ''The Hunger Angel'' (german: Atemschaukel; 2009) is a novel by Herta Müller. An English translation by Philip Boehm was published in 2012. Summary It is a depiction of the persecution of ethnic Germans in Romania by the Stalinist regime of t ...

'' (''Atemschaukel'') portrays the

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

of Romania's German minority to Soviet Gulags during the

Soviet occupation of Romania The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania. The fate of the territories held by Romania after 1918 that were incorporated int ...

for use as German forced labor. Müller has received more than twenty awards to date, including the

Kleist Prize The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Repu ...

(1994), the

Aristeion Prize The Aristeion Prize was a European literary annual prize. It was given to authors for significant contributions to contemporary European literature, and to translators for exceptional translations of contemporary European literary works. The priz ...

(1995), the

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

(1998) and the

Franz Werfel Human Rights Award The Franz Werfel Human Rights Award (german: Franz-Werfel-Menschenrechtspreis) is a human rights award of the German Federation of Expellees' Centre Against Expulsions project. It is awarded to individuals or groups in Europe who, through politi ...

(2009). On 8 October 2009, the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...

announced that she had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, describing her as a woman "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed".

Early life

Müller was born to Banat Swabian

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

farmers in

(German: Nitzkydorf; Hungarian: Niczkyfalva), up to the 1980s a German-speaking village in the

Romanian Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...

in southwestern Romania,until 1920 part of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. Her family was part of Romania's German minority. Her grandfather had been a wealthy farmer and merchant, but his property was confiscated by the Communist regime. Her father was a member of the

Waffen SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and earned a living as a truck driver in Communist Romania. In 1945, her mother,born 1928 as Katarina Gion, then aged 17, was among 100,000 of the German minority

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

to forced labor camps in the Soviet Union, from which she was released in 1950. Müller's native language is German; she learned

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

only in

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. She graduated from

Nikolaus Lenau High School Nikolaus Lenau High School (german: Nikolaus-Lenau-Lyzeum; ro, Liceul Teoretic „Nikolaus Lenau”) is a German-language high school in Timișoara. The school was founded in 1870 and is named after the 19th century romantic poet Nikolaus Lenau wh ...

before becoming student of

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

Romanian literature Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language. History The development of the Romanian literature took place in parallel with tha ...

West University of Timișoara The West University of Timișoara ( ro, Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara; abbreviated UVT) is a public higher education institution located in Timișoara. Classified by the Ministry of National Education as a university of education and sci ...

. In 1976, Müller began working as a translator for an engineering factory, but was dismissed in 1979 for her refusal to cooperate with the

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

, the Communist regime's secret police. After her dismissal, she initially earned a living by teaching in

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

and giving private German lessons.

Career

Müller's first book, ''Niederungen'' ('' Nadirs''), was published in Romania in German in 1982, receiving a prize from the Central Committee of the

Union of Communist Youth The Union of Communist Youth (Romanian language, Romanian: '; UTC) was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation. Like many Young Communist League, Young Communist organisations, it was modelled after the Soviet Union, Soviet Komsomol. I ...

. The book was about a child's view of the German-cultural Banat. Some members of the Banat Swabian community criticized Müller for "fouling her own nest" by her unsympathetic portrayal of village life. Müller was a member of

Aktionsgruppe Banat The Aktionsgruppe Banat was a literary society that fought for freedom of speech, founded by German language, German-speaking authors of the Banat Swabians, Banat Swabian minority in the Banat, Romanian Banat in 1972. The society suffered persecutio ...

, a group of German-speaking writers in Romania who supported freedom of speech over the censorship they faced under

's government, and her works, including '' The Land of Green Plums'', deal with these issues. Radu Tinu, the Securitate officer in charge of her case, denies that she ever suffered any persecutions, a claim that is opposed by Müller's own version of her (ongoing) persecution in an article in the German weekly ''

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

'' in July 2009. Lesung

After being refused permission to emigrate to West Germany in 1985, Müller was finally allowed to leave along with her then-husband, novelist

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, in 1987, and they settled in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, where both still live. In the following years, she accepted lectureships at universities in Germany and abroad. Müller was elected to membership in the

Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. It is seated in Darmstadt, ...

in 1995, and other honorary positions followed. In 1997, she withdrew from the

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

centre of Germany in protest of its merger with the former

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

branch. In July 2008, Müller sent a critical open letter to

Horia-Roman Patapievici Horia-Roman Patapievici (; born March 18, 1957) is a Romanian physicist and essayist who served as the head of the Romanian Cultural Institute from 2005 until August 2012. Between 2000 and 2005, he was a member of the National Council for the Stud ...

, president of the

Romanian Cultural Institute The Romanian Cultural Institute ( ro, Institutul Cultural Român, ICR), headquartered in Bucharest, was established in 2004 on the older institutional framework provided by the Romanian Cultural Foundation and before 1989 by the Institute for ...

in reaction to the moral and financial support given by the institute to two former informants of the Securitate participating at the Romanian-German Summer School. The critic

Denis Scheck Denis Scheck (born 15 December 1964) is a German literary critic, journalist, television presenter and former translator. Biography Born in Stuttgart, he studied German studies, contemporary history and political science at the universities o ...

described visiting Müller at her home in Berlin and seeing that her desk contained a drawer full of single letters cut from a newspaper she had entirely destroyed in the process. Realising that she used the letters to write texts, he felt he had "entered the workshop of a true poet". '' The Passport'', first published in Germany as ''Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt'' in 1986, is, according to ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'', couched in the strange code engendered by repression: indecipherable because there is nothing specific to decipher, it is candid, but somehow beside the point, redolent of things unsaid. From odd observations the villagers sometimes make ("Man is nothing but a pheasant in the world"), to chapters titled after unimportant props ("The Pot Hole", "The Needle"), everything points to a strategy of displaced meaning ... Every such incidence of misdirection is the whole book in miniature, for although Ceausescu is never mentioned, he is central to the story, and cannot be forgotten. The resulting sense that anything, indeed everything – whether spoken by the characters or described by the author – is potentially dense with tacit significance means this short novel expands in the mind to occupy an emotional space far beyond its size or the seeming simplicity of its story."

2009 success

Herta Muller's nail trimmers at the Nobel Museum (51965)

In 2009, Müller enjoyed the greatest international success of her career. Her novel ''Atemschaukel'' (published in English as ''

'') was nominated for the

Deutscher Buchpreis The German Book Prize (''Deutscher Buchpreis'') is awarded annually, in October, by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association (''Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels'') to the best new German language novel of the year. The books, publi ...

(German Book Prize) and won the

. In this book, Müller describes the journey of a young man to a gulag in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, the fate of many Germans in

after World War II. It was inspired by the experience of poet

Oskar Pastior Oskar Pastior (; 20 October 1927 – 4 October 2006) was a Romanian-born German poet and translator. He was the only German member of Oulipo. Biography Born into a Transylvanian Saxon family in Sibiu (Hermannstadt), he was deported in January 19 ...

, whose memories she had made notes of, and also by what happened to her own mother. In October 2009, the

announced its decision to award that year's Nobel Prize in Literature to Müller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed." The academy compared Müller's style and her use of German as a minority language with

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

and pointed out the influence of Kafka on Müller. The award coincided with the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. Michael Krüger, head of Müller's publishing house, said: "By giving the award to Herta Müller, who grew up in a German-speaking minority in Romania, the committee has recognized an author who refuses to let the inhumane side of life under communism be forgotten" In 2012, Müller commented on the Nobel Prize for

Mo Yan Guan Moye (; born 17 February 1955), better known by the pen name Mo Yan (, ), is a Chinese novelist and short story writer. Donald Morrison of U.S. news magazine ''TIME'' referred to him as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirate ...

by saying that the Swedish Academy had apparently chosen an author who 'celebrates censorship'. On July 6, 2020 a no longer existing

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account published the fake news of Herta Müller's death, which was immediately disclaimed by her publisher.

Influences

Although Müller has revealed little about the specific people or books that have influenced her, she has acknowledged the importance of her university studies in German and Romanian literature, and particularly of the contrast between the two languages. "The two languages", the writer says, "look differently even at plants. In Romanian, 'snowdrops' are 'little tears', in German they are 'Schneeglöckchen', that is 'little snow bells', which means we're not only speaking about different words, but about different worlds." (However here she confuses snowdrops with

lily-of-the-valley Lily of the valley (''Convallaria majalis'' (), sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate No ...

, the latter being called 'little tears' in Romanian.) She continues, "Romanians see a falling star and say that someone has died, with the Germans you make a wish when you see the falling star." Romanian folk music is another influence: "When I first heard

Maria Tănase Maria Tănase (; 25 September 1913 – 22 June 1963) was a Romanian singer and actress. Her music ranged from traditional Romanian music to romance, tango, chanson and operetta. Tănase has a similar importance in Romania as Édith Piaf in F ...

she sounded incredible to me, it was for the first time that I really felt what folklore meant. Romanian folk music is connected to existence in a very meaningful way." Müller's work was also shaped by the many experiences she shared with her ex-husband, the novelist and essayist

. Both grew up in Romania as members of the Banat Swabian ethnic group and enrolled in German and Romanian literary studies at Timișoara University. Upon graduating, both worked as German-language teachers, and were members of Aktionsgruppe Banat, a literary society that fought for freedom of speech. Müller's involvement with Aktionsgruppe Banat gave her the courage to write boldly, despite the threats and trouble generated by the Romanian secret police. Although her books are fictional, they are based on real people and experiences. Her 1996 novel, '' The Land of Green Plums'', was written after the deaths of two friends, in which Müller suspected the involvement of the secret police, and one of its characters was based on a close friend from Aktionsgruppe Banat.

Letter from Liu Xia

Herta Müller wrote the foreword for the first publication of the poetry of Liu Xia, wife of the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo, in 2015. Müller also translated and read a few of Liu Xia poems in 2014. On 4 December 2017, a photo of the letter to Herta Müller from Liu Xia in a form of poem was posted on Facebook by Chinese dissident

Liao Yiwu Liao may refer to: Chinese history * Liao (Zhou dynasty state) (蓼), two states in ancient China during the Spring and Autumn period in the 8th and 7th centuries BC * Liao of Wu (吳王僚) (died 515 BC), king of Wu during ancient China's Spring a ...

, where Liu Xia said that she was going mad in her solitary life.

Works

Prose

* '' Niederungen'', stories, censored version published in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, 1982; uncensored version published in Germany, 1984. Translated as '' Nadirs'' by Sieglinde Lug (University of Nebraska Press, 1999) * '' Drückender Tango'' ("Oppressive Tango"), stories, Bucharest, 1984 * ''Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt'', Berlin, 1986. Translated as '' The Passport'' by

Martin Chalmers Martin Chalmers (11 November 1948 – 22 October 2014) was a British translator, particularly of works in German. He was awarded the Schlegel-Tieck Prize by the Society of Authors. He was married to the German author, Esther Kinsky. Translations ...

(

Serpent's Tail Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...

, 1989) * '' Barfüßiger Februar'' ("Barefoot February"), Berlin, 1987 * ''Reisende auf einem Bein'', Berlin, 1989. Translated as '' Traveling on One Leg'' by Valentina Glajar and Andre Lefevere (Hydra Books/

Northwestern University Press Northwestern University Press is an American publishing house affiliated with Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It publishes 70 new titles each year in the areas of continental philosophy, poetry, Slavic and German literary criticism ...

, 1998) * '' Der Teufel sitzt im Spiegel'' ("The Devil is Sitting in the Mirror"), Berlin, 1991 * '' Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger'', Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1992. Translated as ''The Fox Was Ever the Hunter'' by Philip Boehm (2016) * '' Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett'' ("A Warm Potato Is a Warm Bed"), Hamburg, 1992 * '' Der Wächter nimmt seinen Kamm'' ("The Guard Takes His Comb"), Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1993 * '' Angekommen wie nicht da'' ("Arrived As If Not There"), Lichtenfels, 1994 * ''Herztier'', Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994. Translated as '' The Land of Green Plums'' by

Michael Hofmann Michael Hofmann (born 25 August 1957) is a German-born poet who writes in English and is a translator of texts from German. Biography Hofmann was born in Freiburg into a family with a literary tradition. His father was the German novelist Ger ...

(

Metropolitan Books Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...

Henry Holt & Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. Currently, the company publishes in the fields ...

, 1996) * '' Hunger und Seide'' ("Hunger and Silk"), essays, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1995 * '' In der Falle'' ("In a Trap"), Göttingen 1996 * ''Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet'', Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1997. Translated as ''

The Appointment ''The Appointment'' is a 1969 psychological drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Omar Sharif and Anouk Aimée. Written by James Salter, it is based on the story by Antonio Leonviola. Plot After becoming involved with the ex-fianc� ...

'' by

Michael Hulse Michael Hulse (born 1955) is an English poet, translator and critic, notable especially for his translations of German novels by W. G. Sebald, Herta Müller, and Elfriede Jelinek. Life and works Hulse was educated locally in Stoke-on-Trent unt ...

and

Philip Boehm Philip Boehm (born 1958) is an American playwright, theater director and literary translator. Born in Texas, he was educated at Wesleyan University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the State Academy of Theater in Warsaw, Poland. Boehm ...

(Metropolitan Books/

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

, 2001) * '' Der fremde Blick oder Das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne'' ("The Foreign View, or Life Is a Fart in a Lantern"), Göttingen, 1999 * '' Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird'' ("Home Is What Is Spoken There"), Blieskastel, 2001 * ''A Good Person Is Worth as Much as a Piece of Bread'', foreword to Kent Klich's ''Children of Ceausescu'', published by Journal, 2001 and Umbrage Editions, 2001. * '' Der König verneigt sich und tötet'' ("The King Bows and Kills"), essays, Munich (and elsewhere), 2003 * ''Atemschaukel'', Munich, 2009. Translated as ''

'' by Philip Boehm (Metropolitan Books, 2012) * '' Immer derselbe Schnee und immer derselbe Onkel'', 2011

Lyrics / found poetry

* '' Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame'' ("A Lady Lives in the Hair Knot"), Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2000 * '' Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen'' ("The Pale Gentlemen with their Espresso Cups"), Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2005 * ''

Este sau nu este Ion () is a poetry collection in Romanian by the Nobel Prize-winning author Herta Müller. It was first published in 2005 by Polirom Polirom or Editura Polirom ("Polirom" Publishing House) is a Romanian publishing house with a tradition of publishi ...

'' ("Is He or Isn't He Ion"), collage-poetry written and published in Romanian,

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, Polirom, 2005 * '' Vater telefoniert mit den Fliegen'' ("Father is calling the Flies"), Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2012 * ''Father's on the Phone with the Flies: A Selection'' , Seagull Books, Munich, 2018 (73 collage poems with reproductions of originals)

Editor

Theodor Kramer Theodor Kramer (1 January 1897 – 3 April 1958) was an Austrian poet of Jewish origin. He was persecuted during the Second World War and fled to the United Kingdom. After his death his significant poetic output fell into obscurity, but has been ...

: ''Die Wahrheit ist, man hat mir nichts getan'' ("The Truth Is No One Did Anything to Me"), Vienna 1999 * ''Die Handtasche'' ("The Purse"), Künzelsau 2001 * ''Wenn die Katze ein Pferd wäre, könnte man durch die Bäume reiten'' ("If the Cat Were a Horse, You Could Ride Through the Trees"), Künzelsau 2001

Filmography

* 1993: ''Vulpe – vânător'' (''Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger''), directed by Stere Gulea, starring

Oana Pellea Oana Dariana Pellea (born 29 January 1962) is a Romanian actress, the daughter of actor Amza Pellea. Selected filmography Honours *Order of the Star of Romania, Officer rank (December 1, 2000). * Romanian Royal Family The Romanian royal fa ...

Dorel Vișan Dorel Vișan (; born 25 June 1937) is a Romanian actor. He has appeared in 65 films since 1974. He was nominated for the award of Best Actor at the 1988 European Film Awards. He was born in Tăușeni, Cluj County. In 1965 he graduated from the ...

George Alexandru George Alexandru (; 21 November 1957 – 1 January 2016) was a Romanian film and theater actor. Filmography * ' (1978) * ' (1980) * ' (1983) * ' (1985) * '' Noi, cei din linia întâi'' (1985) * ''Figuranții'' (1987) * ''François Villon - Poe ...

etc.

Awards and honors

* 1981 Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn Prize of the

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

Literature Circle * 1984

Aspekte-Literaturpreis The Aspekte-Literaturpreis (''Aspekte'' Literature Prize) is awarded annually for the best debut novel written in German, as judged by a panel of writers, critics, and scholars. The prize is sponsored by the ZDF television network through its arts ...

* 1985

Rauris Literature Prize The Rauris Literature Prize () is an annual Austrian literary award since 1972 by the Salzburg state government. The prize money is €10,000. It is awarded "for the best prose first publication by a German-speaking author from the previous year". ...

* 1985 Encouragement Prize of the Literature Award of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

* 1987 Ricarda-Huch Prize of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

* 1989 Marieluise-Fleißer-Preis of

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

* 1989 German Language Prize, together with Gerhardt Csejka, Helmuth Frauendorfer, Klaus Hensel, Johann Lippet, Werner Söllner, William Totok, Richard Wagner * 1990 Roswitha Medal of Knowledge of

Bad Gandersheim Bad Gandersheim ( Eastphalian: ''Ganderssen'') is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Northeim. , it had a population of 9,492. Bad Gandersheim has many half-timbered houses and is located on the German Timber-F ...

* 1991 Kranichsteiner Literature Prize * 1993 Critical Prize for Literature * 1994

* 1995

* 1995/96 Stadtschreiber von Bergen * 1997 Literature Prize of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

* 1998 Ida-Dehmel Literature Prize and the

for '' The Land of Green Plums'' * 2001 Cicero Speaker Prize * 2002 Carl-Zuckmayer-Medaille of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

* 2003

Joseph-Breitbach-Preis Joseph-Breitbach-Preis (Joseph Breitbach Prize) is a literary prize awarded by the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz (Academy of Sciences and Literature of Mainz), in Germany and the Joseph Breitbach Foundation. Established in ...

(together with

Christoph Meckel Christoph Meckel (12 June 1935 – 29 January 2020) was a German author and graphic artist. He received awards for his works which connect illustrations with the written text, sometimes texts by others. Life Born in Berlin, Meckel spent his yo ...

and

Harald Weinrich Harald Weinrich (24 September 1927 – 26 February 2022) was a German classical scholar, scholar of Romance philology and philosopher, known for the breadth of his writings. Biography He was emeritus professor of the Collège de France, and hel ...

) * 2004 Literature Prize of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung * 2005 Berlin Literature Prize * 2006 Würth Prize for European Literature und Walter-Hasenclever Literature Prize * 2009

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

* 2009

, in particular for her novel ''

'' * 2010

Hoffmann von Fallersleben Prize The Hoffmann von Fallersleben Prize (german: Hoffmann-von-Fallersleben-Preis für zeitkritische Literatur) is an international literary award, awarded by the Hoffmann von Fallersleben Society (german: Hoffmann-von-Fallersleben-Gesellschaft) in me ...

* 2013

Best Translated Book Award The Best Translated Book Award is an American literary award that recognizes the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and is conferred by Three Percent, the onlin ...

, shortlist, ''The Hunger Angel'' * 2014 Hannelore Greve Literature Prize * 2021 Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts * 2022: Prize for Understanding and Tolerance,

Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...

References

External links

Herta Müller
short biography by Professor of German Beverley Driver Eddy at

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

Herta Müller
Bio, excerpts, interviews and articles in the archives of the

Prague Writers' Festival The Prague Writers' Festival (PWF) is an annual literary festival in Prague, Czech Republic, taking place every spring since 1991. In 2005 the festival was also held in Vienna. Many of the events are broadcast via the internet. International lite ...

Herta Müller
at '' complete review''
List of Works

profile by

International Literature Festival Berlin The Berlin International Literature Festival (german: internationales literaturfestival berlin) or ''ilb'' is an annual event based in Berlin. Every September, the festival presents contemporary poetry, prose, nonfiction, graphic novels and inte ...

. Retrieved on 7 October 2009
Herta Müller interview
by

Radio Romania International Radio România Internaţional ( ro, Radio România Internaţional, or ) is a Romanian radio station owned by the Romanian public radio broadcaster Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune (SRR, the national public radio in Romania) that broadcasts ...

on Aug 17, 2007. Retrieved on 7 October 2009
"Securitate in all but name"
by Herta Müller. About her ongoing fight with the Securitate, August 2009

excerpt from the novel. September 2009

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

, December 2009
"The Evil of Banality" – A review of The Appointment by Costica Bradatan
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', February 2010
"Herta Müller: The 2009 Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature"
''

Yemen Times The ''Yemen Times'' was an independent English-language newspaper in Yemen. The paper was published twice weekly. History and profile ''Yemen Times'' was founded in 1991 by Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, a leading economist and human rights activist, who ...

''
"Half-lives in the shadow of starvation"
review by Costica Bradatan of ''The Hunger Angel'', ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', February 2013
How could I forgive. An interview with Herta Müller
Video by

Louisiana Channel Louisiana Channel is a non-profit web-TV channel based at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark. By the end of the first year, 28 November 2013, Louisiana Channel had published 130 videos featuring international artists, film m ...

* * including the Nobel Lecture, 7 December 2009 ''Jedes Wort weiß etwas vom Teufelskreis'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Herta 1953 births Living people Banat Swabians Danube-Swabian people German anti-communists German women essayists German essayists German Nobel laureates German women poets Kleist Prize winners Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Nobel laureates in Literature People from Timiș County German people of German-Romanian descent Romanian dissidents Romanian Nobel laureates Romanian novelists Romanian writers in German Romanian women poets Romanian schoolteachers Romanian translators Women Nobel laureates 20th-century German novelists 21st-century German novelists 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German women writers German women novelists 21st-century German poets 20th-century German translators 21st-century translators Members of the German Academy for Language and Literature 20th-century essayists 21st-century essayists West University of Timișoara alumni Free University of Berlin faculty