'Bearing witness to life'

 

 “Literature speaks with everyone individually - it is personal property that stays inside our heads. And nothing speaks to us as forcefully as a book, which expects nothing in return other than that we think and feel.” – Herta Müller

 

Born in Romania on Aug. 17, 1953 Müller is a novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.   Her works have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Many of Müller's writings address an individual's vulnerability under oppression and persecution, rooted in her own experiences as one of Romania's German-speaking ethnic minority under the brutal dictator Ceaușescu.   Perhaps best-known among her many novels are The Passport and The Hunger Angel, along with several best-selling books of poetry and an award-winning book of essays, Hunger and Silk.

“I write in order to bear witness to life,” she said.  “What can't be said can be written. Because writing is a silent act, a labor from the head to the hand.”