Marjane Satrapi, author of the enormously popular comic ‘Persepolis’ and filmmaker, has died at the age of 56, according to the French press in a statement sent by her family to the AFP agency. It reads: “Marjane Satrapi died of sadness just over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life.” Ripa, actor, screenwriter and producer, died in April 2025.
Satrapi leaves behind one of the most influential works of contemporary comics. ‘Persepolis’ tells of his childhood in Tehran and the impact of political change in Iran after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the arrival of the Islamic Republic. The comic was adapted to film in 2007 with Vincent Paronnaud, a version that ended up achieving a historic Oscar nomination for best animated film.
After years away from comics, Satrapi returned in 2023 with ‘Mujer. Life. Libertad’, a collective project with Iranian authors in which names like Paco Roca and Joann Sfar also participated – a kind of “international comic brigade”, as she herself defined it. The book addressed the protests that arose after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, murdered by the morality police for wearing her veil incorrectly.
