Marjane Satrapi, Author Of Persepolis, A Novel About Growing Up In Iran During The Revolution, Has Passed Away
- 5.06.2026, 8:24
The book, which consists of four volumes, tells the story of the fate of an Iranian girl in Tehran.
Franco-Iranian writer Marjane Satrapi has passed away at the age of 56. She gained fame for her autobiographical comic book series Persepolis, which recounted her childhood in Tehran during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. That graphic novel was a huge success and was later screened, reports HBC.
Satrapi's death was announced by the office of French President Emmanuel Macron.
"Her passing was a loss for French culture - we have lost an outstanding personality and a freedom-loving artist whose work carried a universal message and brought her great international recognition," the Elysee Palace said in a statement.
Satrapi's family also released a statement on her death.
"Marjane Satrapi died of grief just over a year after the death of Mathias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life," the statement quoted by AFP said.
"Persepolis" was first published in France in 2000 and came out in English in 2003.
The book, in four volumes, tells the story of an Iranian girl in Tehran who has to live under the tight restrictions imposed by Iran's leadership after the 1979 revolution.
This work has helped millions of people gain a new perspective on the people of Iran.
The novel's protagonist, Marji, goes through one of the most difficult periods in Iran's history, in many ways echoing the life path of Satrapi herself.
The author and her heroine were both born in Iran in 1969. Both were about 10 years old when the Shah was overthrown. Both witnessed the rise to power of the clergy and lived through the horror of the Iran-Iraq War before leaving their homeland at the age of 14 to build a new life in Austria.
In 1994, Satrapi moved to Paris, where she wrote Persepolis.
After the publication of Persepolis, Satrapi became one of the best-known representatives of the then-popular graphic novel genre, which combined political history and memoir.
The comic book was later adapted into a feature-length animated film and entered the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the Jury Prize with Silent Light. Satrapi co-directed the film with artist Vensant Paronnaud.
The film was also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature Film category, making Satrapi the first woman to ever enter the category.
In the film adaptation of Persepolis, Chiara Mastroianni played the young Marjean, with Catherine Deneuve as her mother.
In 2006, after more than 10 years living in France, Satrapi was granted citizenship, but last year she refused France's Legion of Honor, accusing the authorities of hypocrisy over their visa policy toward Iranian dissidents.
"I cannot ignore what I consider to be a hypocritical attitude toward Iran, which has shaped another part of my identity," she said, adding that she did not mean to disrespect the award because she has deep feelings for France.
Satrapi has always been a vocal critic of the Iranian authorities and has supported protests against the Iranian regime, including mass actions following the death in 2022 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by vice police in Tehran for allegedly failing to comply with hijab rules.
She told Deadline how her parents took to the streets to protest Iranian authorities' imposition of mandatory hijab on women in 1983.
"He was one of the few men; they didn't realize at the time that women's rights were the rights of society," she recalled of her father.
She also recounted receiving threats and insults from regime officials over Persepolis and her activism.
"I was called a liar and a spy. Life has taught me not to be afraid. It's not that you don't feel fear; you feel fear but then decide whether to give it importance or not," Satrapi said.
In 2023, she led a protest outside the Iranian embassy in Paris in solidarity with five Tehran teenagers arrested for publishing a video in tiktok showing them dancing to the song Calm Down by Nigerian singer Rema and American singer Selena Gomez.
"We artists should be humble, but inaction is worse, indifference is worse," she said. - 'I don't think I'm doing anything grand or massive, but I have a voice, I have a face, and I'm known in France, I'm just doing what I have to do.'
Satrapi's husband, Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter Matias Ripa, died last year, and she recently published a series of touching Instagram posts, confessing that she had 'lost the love of her life'.