Marjane Satrapi

Satrapi married her first husband, Reza, at the age of 22 and divorced her three years later. Thereafter, she moved to Strasbourg, France.

Satrapi is now married to Mattias Ripa, a Swedish national and the translator of several of her books. They live together in Paris, France.

Marjane Satrapi regularly conducts interviews with major literary and news publications as well as making occasional public appearances.

Marjane Satrapi was born on November 22, 1969, in a middle-class family, in Rascht, Iran. Her parents, Taji and Ebi Satrapi, were both politically active Iranians involved in Marxist causes and were opposed to the last Shah’s monarchy.

In 1983, when Satrapi was a teenager, her parents sent her to Vienna, Austria, to study at the Lycée Français de Vienne.

During her time in Vienna, Satrapi contracted a serious case of pneumonia. According to her autobiographical graphic novel, she was homeless during this period and nearly died from the combination of exposure and pneumonia.

Satrapi returned to her family in Tehran after recovering from her illness and studied at Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, where she majored in visual communication.

In 1991, at the age of 22, Satrapi married a student named Reza, who is also identified in her autobiographical novels as a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War.

Satrapi devoted herself to graphic novels upon meeting her mentor, the French artist David Beauchard.

In 2000, Satrapi published the first part of the four-part autobiographical graphic novel, ‘Persepolis’, which would bring her worldwide attention.

Between 2000 and 2004, Satrapi wrote and published an additional three volumes of the ‘Persepolis’ story in French.

In 2001, Satrapi wrote several graphic novels in collaboration with other French graphic novelists. These novels include: ‘Sagesses et malices de la Perse’ and ‘Les monstres n’aiment pas la lune’.

In 2003 and 2004, the four-volume novel was re-issued in an English-language two-volume edition, bringing Satrapi to US and worldwide audiences.

‘Persepolis’ was Satrapi’s most significant work, in terms of financial and critical success. It was published first in French and later in English, with a re-issue in 2007 as a single-volume edition. ‘Persepolis’ was also the first of Satrapi’s works to be made into a film.

‘Chicken with Plums’ or ‘Poulet aux Prunes’ is one of Satrapi’s most widely acclaimed graphic novels and the second of her graphic novel to be turned into a film.