Marjane Satrapi, Author of 'Persepolis,' Dies at 56

Franco-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi died at age 56, a year after her husband Mattias Ripa died on April 8, 2025. She published the graphic novel memoir Persepolis in 2000, which sold millions of copies. She co-directed its animated film adaptation and became the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for best animated feature. She became a French citizen in 2006 after arriving from Iran in 1994.

Satrapi's death

• ▪Mattias Ripa died on April 8, 2025.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi's relatives said Marjane Satrapi had died of sadness after the death of Marjane Satrapi's husband, Swedish producer Mattias Ripa.
• ▪Messages posted on Marjane Satrapi's Instagram account in April 2025 revealed the phrase "For I lost the love of my life."

Childhood in Tehran

• ▪Marjane Satrapi was raised in Tehran by Marjane Satrapi's father, an engineer, and Marjane Satrapi's mother, a dress designer.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi arrived in France in 1994.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi became a French citizen in 2006.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi left Iran as a teenager after Marjane Satrapi's parents sent Marjane Satrapi to Europe to continue Marjane Satrapi's education, hoping to spare Marjane Satrapi from the restrictions imposed under the Islamic Republic.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran, near the Caspian Sea.

Persepolis graphic memoir

• ▪Marjane Satrapi published Persepolis, a comic book memoir, in 2000.
• ▪Persepolis follows the protagonist's attempts to understand Iran's violence and ideological control before the protagonist is sent alone to Europe at the age of 14.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi co-directed the animated film adaptation of Persepolis.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi was the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for best animated feature.
• ▪Persepolis told the story of a rebellious and outspoken young girl navigating the upheaval in Iran after the shah is overthrown in 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

Film directing work

• ▪Marjane Satrapi directed Radioactive in 2019, starring Rosamund Pike as scientist Marie Curie.

Iranian women's rights advocacy

• ▪Woman, Life, Freedom examined the protest movement that emerged after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman detained in 2022 for allegedly failing to comply with Iran's mandatory headscarf rules.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi returned to comics in 2024 to coordinate Woman, Life, Freedom, a collaborative graphic work bringing together 17 Iranian and international comic artists alongside academics and researchers.
• ▪Marjane Satrapi was a vocal opponent of Iran's clerical establishment throughout Marjane Satrapi's life.

French political tributes

• ▪Valérie Pécresse, president of the Regional Council of Île-de-France, said the death of Marjane Satrapi's companion had deeply affected Marjane Satrapi.
• ▪French President Emmanuel Macron said Marjane Satrapi was a great artist who turned Marjane Satrapi's Iranian childhood into a universal tale.
• ▪Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the French National Assembly, said Marjane Satrapi had turned Marjane Satrapi's work into an act of freedom.

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