'What can't be said can be written'

 

“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

A Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature, Müller was born on August 17, 1953.   Since the early 1990s she has been internationally established, and her works have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Many of Müller's literary works address an individual's vulnerability under oppression and persecution, rooted in her experiences as one of Romania's German-speaking ethnic minorities 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.”