Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian writer and artist, the author of comics and children’s books, and a film director. She lives in France and writes in French.

Satrapi was born in Rasht and grew up in Tehran. Her parents were Iranian intellectuals, belonging to the so-called “Westernized” segment of Iranian society. They were politically active, Marxists by conviction, opposed the monarchy, and fought for the overthrow of the shah’s regime. But after the revolution they were deeply alarmed and intimidated by the Muslim fundamentalists who came to power. Her parents were concerned that little Marjane, being a headstrong and freedom-loving teenager, would be unable to understand and accept the new strict social rules and norms of female behavior.

In 1983 they sent her to study in Austria, to the French lycée in Vienna. During this time Satrapi lived with friends, and after experiencing first love and betrayal, she came close to falling to the bottom, spending two months on the streets, where she eventually contracted a severe form of pneumonia. After four years of such ordeals, she returned to Iran, where some time later, at the age of 21, she married (she would divorce her husband about three years later) and enrolled in university in the graphics department. In the end, at Azad Islamic University, Marjane was awarded a master’s degree.

Marjane never managed to adapt to the new Iranian society, to chauvinism, violence, and ignorance. She says farewell to her native Iran forever and leaves for France, to Strasbourg. She now lives in Paris with her Swedish husband.