Marjane Satrapi, French-Iranian author of ‘Persepolis,’ dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the French- Iranian author and illustrator behind the popular graphic novel series and film “Persopolis,” has died, the French presidency said Thursday. She was 56.

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Satrapi’s graphic novel series recounted her early years growing up in Tehran against the backdrop of the 1979 revolution, before being sent to Europe by her parents. She was an outspoken critic of Iran’s theocratic government and advocate for women’s rights.

“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure in French culture and an artist deeply committed to freedom,” the French presidency said in a statement. It said Satrapi was “a great artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable.”

The acclaimed author “died of sadness,” her family told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

The statement said the author had “died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,” the AFP reported. Further details of her death were not immediately available.

Ripa, a Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter, died in April of last year.

In a series of recent posts on a verified Instagram page for Satrapi, the words “For I lost the love of my life” were spelled out.

Satrapi was known as an outspoken critic of Iran’s theocratic government and her graphic novels highlighted the challenges she faced under the restrictions enforced by Iran’s Islamic leadership following the Iranian revolution, which saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty about a decade after the author was born.

She arrived in France in the mid-1990s, before gaining French nationality in 2006, according to AFP.

Millions of copies of Persepolis have been sold since the series were published in the early 2000s, propelling Satrapi to become one of the best-selling Iranian authors in the world.

She also became the first woman to be nominated for an animated feature film Oscar for the popular adaptation of her series, according to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures .

Tributes began to pour in on Thursday morning as news of the author’s death spread.

“Marjane was a true artist and advocate for Iranian women and freedom,” British-Iranian journalist and Chief International Anchor for Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) on XHow very very sad. She disrupted literature with her wildly successful autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis.AFP reports she died of sadness a year after losing her husband, the love of her life.RIP

“Great sadness upon hearing of the passing of my friend Marjane Satrapi. She was a great artist, comics creator, painter, filmmaker, but above all a passionate and committed woman,” Valérie Pécresse, president of the regional council of Île-de-France, said in a post on X on Thursday.

“From Persepolis to her biopic of Marie Curie, “Radioactive,” she established herself as a major voice in the defense of democracy and women’s rights in Iran and around the world,” she said, adding that Satrapi had been “deeply affected” by the death of her husband.