German writer Herta Mueller, whose work has dealt with the hardships and humiliations of life in an oppressive dictatorship, was awarded the Nobel prize in literature Thursday. The Romanian-born Mueller, 56, was recognized by the Swedish Academy as a writer who “with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.” She became only the 12th woman to win the prize since its inception in 1901
