Mueller is the 12th woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Recent female winners include Austria's Elfriede Jelinek in 2004 and British writer Doris Lessing in 2007.

Mueller, along with Americans Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon and Israeli Amos Oz were considered top contenders for the prize. There had been speculation ahead of the announcement the prize may be awarded to a non-European.

The last American winner was Toni Morrison in 1993. No writer from South America has won since Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982. Canadian-born Saul Bellow, who was a resident of the United States for much of his life, won in 1976.

Last year's Nobel prize went to Jean-Marie Gustave Le ...

Mueller is the 12th woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Recent female winners include Austria's Elfriede Jelinek in 2004 and British writer Doris Lessing in 2007.

Mueller, along with Americans Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon and Israeli Amos Oz were considered top contenders for the prize. There had been speculation ahead of the announcement the prize may be awarded to a non-European.

The last American winner was Toni Morrison in 1993. No writer from South America has won since Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982. Canadian-born Saul Bellow, who was a resident of the United States for much of his life, won in 1976.

Last year's Nobel prize went to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio of France.

One hundred and six writers have won the Nobel literature prize since the prizes were established in 1901.