French-Iranian Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi dies of ‘sadness’

Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel was born from her experiences of the Islamic revolution and war with Iraq.

French-Iranian author and film director Marjane Satrapi has died at the age of 56.

Best known for her autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, which she later directed as a film, Satrapi’s passing was announced on Thursday by French ⁠President Emmanuel Macron’s office.

Her family said in a statement sent to the AFP news agency that Satrapi had died of “sadness” a little over a year after the death of her husband, Mattias Ripa.

Macron paid tribute to the author and said “her passing marks the loss of a leading figure in French culture and an artist devoted to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international renown”.

The dissident writer and illustrator, born in 1969 in Rasht in northern Iran, was from a long line of Iranian aristocrats. In 1983, her parents – politcally active Marxists who participated in demonstrations against the shah – sent her to Austria to finish her studies as the 1979 Iranian revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power sparked growing religious fundamentalism.

She returned home due to homesickness and attended the University of Tehran, obtaining a degree in visual communications which would lay the foundation for her artistic path, before leaving once more in 1994 for France.

She remained in her adopted country for much of her life, but remained deeply connected to her Iranian roots through her work.

Her black-and-white autobiographical novel, which first came out in 2000, would be born from the experiences of her life, most notably Iran’s Islamic revolution and the fallout of its war with Iraq.

The coming-of-age story weaves together boys, booze and punk rock, while its monochromatic illustrations draw readers into the author’s world and the strong narrative breathing life into every page.

Some critics praised the balance of geopolitical trauma, gallows humour and personal family history, and the way the book pushes aside stereotypes of Iran by illustrating female agency.

Some others accused her of reinforcing Western prejudices about Islam and Iran.

The film delves into her life about growing up a strong-willed young girl of intellectual parents.

“I come from a country where a woman is worth half a man,” she told US entertainment outlet Variety in 2007. “I never thought I had one leg less just because I was a woman.”

Persepolis was later adapted into a film which gained widespread praise, and was nominated for best animated feature at the 2008 Acad