One of the greatest writers, Sylvia Plath is often overlooked because of her poetry. Not often quoted and having lived such a short life, she’s rarely referred to as “one of the greats.” I find Sylvia interesting for many reasons. If there’s anyone who knows about silence, I believe it to be her.
Here’s part of her bio from Wikipedia:

Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England, having two children together: Frieda and Nicholas. Following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy.

The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence. I knew perfectly well the cars were making a noise, and the people in them and behind the lit windows of the buildings were making a noise, and the river was making a noise, but I couldn’t hear a thing. The city hung in my window, flat as a poster, glittering and blinking, but it might just as well not have been there at all, for the good it did me. – Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

(“Stillness Speaks” used under creative commons, thanks delosriosadri!)