German/Romanian writer wins Nobel Prize for Literature

Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller won the prestigious 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature saying Nicolae Ceausescu's brutal dictatorship compelled her to write of how a powerful few can dominate and destroy a nation. The Swedish Academy paid tribute to Mueller “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” Mueller, who charted the brutality and oppressiveness of Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorship, was lost for words when she learnt she had won the prize. Mueller is known for works such as “The Land of Green Plums” which she dedicated to Romanian friends killed under Ceausescu's Communist rule and “The Appointment” in which a Romanian woman sews notes saying “Marry Me” into suits of men bound for Italy.