Franco‑Iranian author Marjane Satrapi dies at 56

Marjane Satrapi, the celebrated Franco-Iranian author and filmmaker best known for her groundbreaking graphic novel memoir "Persepolis," has died at the age of 56. Her death was announced on Thursday by the French president's office and confirmed by statements from her family and friends.

According to those close to her, Satrapi died a little over a year after the passing of her husband, Swedish producer, actor, and screenwriter Mattias Ripa, who died in April 2025. The family's statement said she "died of sadness."

Born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969 and raised in Tehran, Satrapi was a child during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, an experience that would define her life's work. She moved to Europe as a teenager, first to Austria before settling permanently in France in 1994, gaining French citizenship in 2006.

She achieved international acclaim with "Persepolis," her autobiographical graphic novel published between 2000 and 2003. The work chronicled her childhood under Iran's new theocratic regime and her subsequent exile, offering a personal window into a period of political upheaval. The black-and-white animated film adaptation, which she co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, premiered at...