Herta Müller was born on August 17, 1953 in the town of Nitzkydorf, Banat, of Danube-Swabian parents. During World War II, her father served in the German armed forces. In 1945, Müller's mother was deported to the Soviet Union, where she spent five years in a forced-labor camp.

From 1973 to 1976, Müller studied German and Romanian literature at the University of Timisoara (Temeswar). During this period, she was associated with the "Aktionsgruppe Banat," a circle of young German-speaking authors, in opposition to the Ceausescu dictatorship. After completing her studies, she worked as a translator at a machine factory from 1977 to 1979. After her dismissal, she survived by occasional work, doing translations and teaching.

In 1982, Herta Müller published "Niederungen" (Nadirs), a collection of short stories, in Romania. In 1984, she published “Drueckender Tango” in Romania. In the same year, the uncensored version of "Niederungen" was published in Germany. In these two works, Müller depicts life in a small German-speaking Banat village and the corruption, intolerance and repression she found there. While the Romanian national press was critical of these works, the German press was overwhelmingly positive.

1981 Adam-Müller-Guttenbrunn Sponsored Prize the Temeswar Literature Circle

In 1987, Müller emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany, together with her then husband, author Richard Wagner.

In 2009, Müller publishes the novel "Atemschaukel," which depicts the deportation of the Romania-German to the Soviet Union, and their struggle for survival under extremely harsh camp-life conditions. 

The recipient of the European Literature Prize, she has also won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for her previous novel, The Land of Green Plums.

In October 2009, Herta Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

Herta Muller's prose is distinguished by a highly concentrated imagery, which often spills over into the surreal. Without any frills, the paratactic syntax compresses the essential statement, which achieves great impact by using block-like simplicity. This, combined with an accurate, clear, poetic imagery, mixes fragments of reality and imagination to achieve an explosive epic-lyrical effectiveness.2

The Shadow of Herta Müller at the Nitzkydorf Cemetery
By Viorel Ilişoi; Translated by Nick Tullius

German Newspaper "Die Zeit" (The Time) July 23, 2009 
www.zeit.de/2009/31/Securitate

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German

PUBLICATIONS

English

Niederungen Author: Herta Müller Bukarest: Kriterion-Verlag, 1982 Berlin: Rotbuch-Verlag, 1984   Nadirs Author: Herta Müller Translated & afterword by Sieglinde Lug. Language: English Lincoln, NE:  University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Translation of Niederungen

[Lowlands]

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Drückender Tango Author: Herta Müller Erzählungen. – Bukarest: Kriterion-Verlag, 1984; Reinbek bei Hamburg : Rowohlt, 1996 ISBN: 3-499-22080-6

[Oppressive Tango]

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Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt Author: Herta Müller Roman. Berlin: Rotbuch-Verlag, 1986; Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1995 ISBN: 3-499-13385-7 The Passport Author: Herta Müller Translated by Martin Chalmers,  London Language: English ISBN: 9781852421397 Publisher: Serpents Tail Publication Date: 1989 Binding: Softcover The Passport is a beautiful, haunting novel whose subject is a German village in Romania caught between the stifling hopelessness of Ceausescu’s dictatorship and the glittering temptations of the West. Stories from the past are woven together with the problems Windisch, the village miller, faces after he applies for permission to migrate to West Germany. Herta Müller (Herta Mueller) describes with poetic attention the dreams and superstitions, conflicts and oppression of a forgotten region, the Banat, in the Danube Plain. In sparse, poetic language, Muller captures the forlorn plight of a trapped people.

[Man is a big pheasant in the world]

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Barfüßiger Februar (Prose) Author: Herta Müller Rotbuch-Verl., Berlin 1987 ISBN: 3-88022-719-5 ISBN-10:3-434-54540-9 EAN:9783434545408 Veröffentlichungsdatum:2007 Seiten:168

[Barefoot February ]

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Reisende auf einem Bein Author: Herta Müller Rotbuch-Verlag, 1989 Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1995 Berlin Rotbuch-Verlag, 1989 ISBN: 3-499-13417-9   Traveling on One Leg Author: Herta Müller Translated from the German by Valentina Language: English Glajar and André Lefevere. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1998.

[Traveling on one leg]

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Der Teufel Sitzt Im Spiegel: Wie Wahrnehmung Sich Erfindet Author: Herta Müller Berlin: Rotbuch-Verlag, 1991 ISBN 10: 3880227675 ISBN 13: 9783880227675 Binding: Paperback

[The devil is sitting in the mirror: How perception invents itself]

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Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger Author: Herta Müller Roman. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1992 ISBN 10: 3596181623 ISBN 13: 9783596181629 Untertitel: Roman Serie: Fischer Taschenbücher Erscheinungsjahr: 2009 Erschienen bei: Frankfurt Fischer (tb.) Einband: Kartoniert/Broschiert Zusatz: 2009. 288 S. 19 cm Seitenzahl: 288 Gewicht: 214 Language: Deutsch

[The fox was then already the hunter]

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Eine warme Kartoffel ist ein warmes Bett Author: Herta Müller Hamburg: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, January 1992 ISBN: 3434500146 EAN: 9783434500148 77 pages

[A warm potato]

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Der Wächter nimmt seinen Kamm : vom Weggehen und Ausscheren Author: Herta Müller Reinbek bei Hamburg : Rowohlt, 1993

[The guard takes his comb: about leaving and veering off]

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Publishers Note: Muller takes an unflinching look at the alienation and complexity of a rapidly changing Eastern Europe, focusing on a group of young friends in Ceaucescu's Romania.

Herztier Author: Herta Müller Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994 The Land of Green Plums Author: Herta Müller Translated by Michael Hofmann Publisher: NY Metropolitan Books / Henry Holt & Co Publication Date: 1996-11-01 Language: English Format: Hardcover ISBN-10: 0805042954 ISBN-13: 9780805042955  The Land of Green Plums Author: Herta Müller Translated by Michael Hofmann Publisher: Northwestern University Press (November 11, 1998) Language: English ISBN-10: 0810115972 ISBN-13: 978-0810115972 Herta Muller's first work to be translated into English, THE LAND OF GREEN PLUMS tells the story of a young woman and her friends in Ceausescu's Rumania, who travel from the provinces in search of better prospects in the city. But things are no better there. The narrator watches while totalitarianism infiltrates the lives of her friends, and her own life, causing suicide, betrayal, and corruption in rulers and citizenry alike.

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Hunger und Seide - Essays Author: Herta Müller Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1995

[Hunger and Silk]

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In der Falle Author: Herta Müller Bonn: Haus der Sprache und Literatur Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 1996 ISBN: 3-89244-235-5 ISBN 13: 9783892442356

[In the trap]

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Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet Author: Herta Müller Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1997 ISBN: 3-498-04389-7   The Appointment: a novel Rowohlt Verlag GMBH. Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1997 Translation by Michael Hulse & Philip Boehm Copyright 2001 by Metropolitan Books 2001 Address: Picador USA, US registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company under license from Pan Books Limited.  Ordering contact The Trade Marketing department at St. Martin's Press, email tradesmarketing@stmartins.com Language: English; the translation of this book as been subsidized by Inter Nationes, Bonn. ISBN: 0-312-42054-4 Reprint; 224 pages ISBN-13: 9780312420543 Publisher's Note :  In an intense novel set against the backdrop of Ceausescu's totalitarian regime, a young Romanian factory worker--so desperate to escape the betrayal and hardships of her life that she sews notes offering marriage into the linings of suits bound for Italy --is summoned for interrogation by members of the regime. Reprint.

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Im Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame (Poetry) Author: Herta Müller Rowohlt Reinbek bei Hamburg, Rowohlt, 2000 ISBN: 3-498-04474-5

[In the topknot lives a lady(??)]

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Heimat ist das, was gesprochen wird Author: Herta Müller Gollenstein, Blieskastel, 2001 ISBN: 3-935731-08-6

[Homeland is that, which is being said]

 

 

 

Der fremde Blick oder Das Leben ist ein Furz in der Laterne Author: Herta Müller Göttingen : Wallstein-Verlag, 1999 Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2002 ISBN: 3-89244-359-9

[The strange glance, or life is a fart in the lantern]

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Der König verneigt sich und tötet (Essays, 2003) Author: Herta Müller Hanser, München 2003 ISBN: 3-446-20353-2 ISBN 10: 3596175348 ISBN 13: 9783596175345 Serie: Fischer Taschenbücher Bd.17534 Erscheinungsjahr: 2008 Erschienen bei: Frankfurt Fischer (tb.) Einband: Kartoniert/Broschiert Zusatz: 2008. 203 S. 19 cm Seitenzahl: 203 Gewicht: 160 Language: Deutsch

[the King bowed and killed]

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Die blassen Herren mit den Mokkatassen Author: Herta Müller  Hanser, München 2005 ISBN: 3-446-20677-9

[The pale men with the coffee cups (demitasse??)]

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Die Nacht ist aus Tinte gemacht Authors: Böhm, Thomas, Müller, Herta, Sander, Klaus 2 Audio-CDs ISBN-10: 3932513886 ISBN-13: 9783932513886

[The night is made of ink]

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Este sau nu este Ion Author: Herta Müller Polirom, Iaşi 2005 Atemschaukel Hanser, München 2009 ISBN: 3-446-23391-1

[Or not John]

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Atemschaukel Author: Herta Müller Roman München : Hanser, 2009 ISBN: 3446233911 EAN: 9783446233911

[Breath Swing (will probably be published under a different English title)]

 

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Sources: 

1Banater deutsche Autoren der Gegenwart 1980 von Edward Schneider, NBZ –Volkskalender 1980 Banat-German Authors of the Present - A bio-bibliographic list by Eduard Schneider.  Bio information translated by Nick Tullius; contributed and published by Jody McKim 10 Nov 2009.

2Short bio bibliography: internet references, summarized by Nick Tullius, 30 Oct 2009

3Book compilation by Jody McKim. Published at DVHH.org 30 Oct 2009

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