Herta Müller, the Romanian-born German writer, has won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature. The award was announced in Stockholm on Thursday.

Ms. Müller, 56, immigrated to Germany from Romania in 1987. She is the first German writer to win the Nobel in literature since Günter Grass in 1999 and the 13th winner writing in German since the prize was first given in 1901. She is the 12th woman to win the literature prize. But unlike previous winners like Doris Lessing and V.S. Naipaul, Ms. Müller is relatively unknown outside of literary circles in Germany.