Marjane Satrapi, the iconic creator of award-winning, international bestsellers like Persepolis and Chicken With Plums, has died at age 56. According to a statement shared by her family, Satrapi died of “sadness” after the passing of her husband last April.
“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure in French culture and a freedom-loving artist whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in a statement.
Born in Iran in 1969, Satrapi’s parents were active against the monarchy of the Shah, something that would come to inform a lot of her work. After dealing with the oppressive regime for most of her formative years, she moved to live with with a friend in Austria in 1983, ultimately returning to Iran to study visual communication and earn a degree.
Beginning in 2000, Persepolis, autobiographical comics about her time growing up, were first published in four parts in French and in two parts translated into English. The graphic novel won high honors at Angoulême, and caused controversy worldwide as well thanks to the subject matter. However, Satrapi continued unabated with Chicken With Plums, which also garnered worldwide critical acclaim.
In 2007, Persepolis was adapted into an animated film that debuted at Cannes and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. That was followed by another animated adaptation, this time of Chicken With Plums, and Satrapi continued in film, directing The Voices in 2014 starring Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick. Then in 2019, Satrapi directed Radioactive, a biopic of Marie Curie, followed by The Soloists and Dear Paris, a 2024 film that wove four different stories together about reacting to death.
Satrapi’s long-time husband Mattias Ripa died in 2025 at age 53. The statement from her family, sent via Newswire, reads, “Marjane Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life.”
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