Herta Mueller wins 2009 Nobel literature prize

Herta Mueller, a little-known Romanian-born author who was persecuted for her critical depictions of life behind the Iron Curtain, won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature Thursday in an award seen as a nod to the 20th anniversary of communism’s collapse.

The decision was expected to keep alive the controversy surrounding the academy’s pattern of awarding the prize to European writers.