Herta Müller
photo © gezett.de
* 17.08.1953, Nitzkydorf, Distrikt Banat, Romania
lives in: Berlin, Germany
Herta Müller was born in the German speaking Nitzkydorf, Distrikt Banat in Romania in 1953. In Timisoara she studied Romanian and German Literature.
After her studies she was employed as a translator in a machine factory. Wen contacted by intermediaries of the Romanian Secret Service ('Securitate'), she strictly refused any collaboration, which led to her losing her job in the factory. The Secret Service expected to receive information from her about the 'Campaign Group Banat', of which she was a member.
photo © gezett.deDuring this period, she began writing her first stories, which she brought together in a collection entitled Niederungen. Nevertheless she had great difficulty getting her work through the censors and her first book was only able to be published (in German) in 1982 as a heavily edited version. Niederungen was finally published in Germany in an uncensored version in 1984. Awards and invitations to Germany followed.
Following her criticism of the Romanian Ceaucescu dictatorship in interviews, however, she was placed under a publication and travelling ban – culminating in death threats by the Secret Service. In 1987, she left Romania. Since then she has lived in Berlin, with her husband, the novelist Richard Wagner, as well as undertaking work as a guest professor at universities in England, the USA and Switzerland.
The same central themes re-appear in both Herta Müller's prose and her poetry: departing, emigrating, leaving, but without ever reaching a destination.
As well as the prizes for her debut (including, among others, the 'Aspekte Literaturpreis'), she has received many awards, including the European Literary Prize 'Aristeion', the 'International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award', the 'Kleist Preis', the 'Kafka Preis' and the 'Carl Zuckmayer Medaille'.
Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, and was described by the Nobel Foundation, as a writer 'who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.'
lives in: Berlin, Germany
Herta Müller was born in the German speaking Nitzkydorf, Distrikt Banat in Romania in 1953. In Timisoara she studied Romanian and German Literature.
After her studies she was employed as a translator in a machine factory. Wen contacted by intermediaries of the Romanian Secret Service ('Securitate'), she strictly refused any collaboration, which led to her losing her job in the factory. The Secret Service expected to receive information from her about the 'Campaign Group Banat', of which she was a member.
photo © gezett.deFollowing her criticism of the Romanian Ceaucescu dictatorship in interviews, however, she was placed under a publication and travelling ban – culminating in death threats by the Secret Service. In 1987, she left Romania. Since then she has lived in Berlin, with her husband, the novelist Richard Wagner, as well as undertaking work as a guest professor at universities in England, the USA and Switzerland.
The same central themes re-appear in both Herta Müller's prose and her poetry: departing, emigrating, leaving, but without ever reaching a destination.
As well as the prizes for her debut (including, among others, the 'Aspekte Literaturpreis'), she has received many awards, including the European Literary Prize 'Aristeion', the 'International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award', the 'Kleist Preis', the 'Kafka Preis' and the 'Carl Zuckmayer Medaille'.
Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, and was described by the Nobel Foundation, as a writer 'who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.'
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