Recognize! Herta Müller Scores Nobel Prize for Literature

Here's another chick to add to your Girl Power! list. Herta Müller, a German poet and essayist, was recognized by The Swedish Academy for "the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed," reports the Associated Press. The Nobel Prize Laureate frequently writes about her experiences under the oppressing Romanian government, where she was raised.

Prior to today's announcement, Joyce Carol Oats and Philip Roth, both well-known American novelists, were thought to be the favorites for the Nobel Prize in Literature, along with Israeli writer Amos Oz. The last American to win the $1.4 million award was Toni Morrison in 1993.

Müller will receive her prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.

--Whitney Teal