Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Marjane Satrapi, Mattias Ripa (Translator)

In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

About the author

Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi (Persian: مرجان ساتراپی) was born in Rasht (Iran, 22nd November 1969 – Paris, june 4th, 2026). Conditioned by the extremism of the 1979 Revolution, her parents sent her to Vienna in 1983 to finish her studies at the French Lyceum in the Austrian capital. She later returned to Tehran and enrolled in the School of Fine Arts, but, in 1994, she moved to France before graduating. She studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg (currently, Haute école des arts du Rhin) and later moved to Paris. According to specialists, Marjane Satrapi is one of the most prominent names in international comics, author of what is, for many, one of the best graphic novels ever published: Persepolis (2000), an autobiographical story that narrates her childhood and adolescence in Iran, of which it has been said that “few works have had such an ability to permeate pop culture and, at the same time, be one of the best historical narratives of our time”. Persepolis won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award for Best New Author at the Angoulême Festival. In 2001, the second volume also received the award for Best Script at Angoulême. The third and fourth volumes achieved even greater popularity, garnering international success. In 2007, she teamed up with Vincent Paronnaud to turn the comic into an animated film. The adaptation won the Film Critics Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival in 2007 and the César Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2008, in addition to being nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2008 Oscars. Other notable works of hers include Broderies (2003) (Embroideries, 2005) and Poulet aux prunes (2004) (Chicken with Plums, 2006), which was also adapted to film in 2011. In 2023, she coordinated the book Femme, vie, liberté (Woman, Life, Freedom, 2024) together with political scientist Farid Vahid and historian Abbas Milani, both Iranians, and French reporter Jean-Pierre Perrin, in addition to an international group of seventeen comic book authors (including Spaniards Patricia Bolaños and Paco Roca and several Iranians). In this work, she illustrates the revolts that occurred in Iran after the murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 at the hands of the so-called “morality police”, and denounces the repression and lack of human rights that, according to Satrapi, Iranian society, especially women, suffer at the hands of the regime. The Persian version of this book is accessible online for free to all Iranians.

In addition to the film adaptation of Persepolis, Satrapi has directed the films La Bande des Jotas (The Gang of Jotas, 2012), The Voices (2014) and Radioactive (2019), a biography of scientist Marie Curie. Another discipline in which she has stood out has been painting, with important exhibitions in Parisian galleries such as the Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont. This year, a tapestry designed by Satrapi commissioned by France’s statutory Mobilier Nacional is on display at the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris to mark the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. Commander of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, Marjane Satrapi holds honorary degrees from the Belgian universities UC Louvain and KU Leuven. She was elected member of the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2024.

(Goodreads.com)