French-Iranian cartoonist and film director Marjane Satrapi, author of ‘Persepolis’, dies at 56

The French-Iranian screenwriter, cartoonist and film director Marjane Satrapi, author of the work ‘Persepolis’, has died at the age of 56, as confirmed this Thursday by the Princess of Asturias Foundation, which in 2024 awarded her the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.

“Marjane Satrapi, Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2024, has died,” the Princess of Asturias Foundation indicated in a brief message on social networks, minutes after the news was communicated by the author’s family to the French television network BFM TV.

Satrapi’s death took place just over a year after the death of her husband, Mattias Ripa, Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter. Ripa was also the translator into English of the author’s most successful work, the aforementioned ‘Persepolis’.

Norma Editorial, which has published several works by the Franco-Iranian cartoonist in Spain, has stated that it is “a sad day for the world of comics.” “We learned the terrible news of the death of Marjane Satrapi. The committed French-Iranian author who bequeathed us the extraordinary ‘Persepolis’,” she said, before highlighting that “her stories speak for her.” “Rest in peace,” he noted.