The Iranian comic author Marjane Satrapi (Rasht, 1969) is the new winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities. Satrapi, known above all for her superhit Persepolis, is now a classic in that she goes beyond comics to become an important voice of feminism and activism against women’s freedom, as demonstrated by her latest book, Woman, Life, Libertad (Reservoir Books, Finestres in Catalan), a collective work based on the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran and the protests she raised throughout the country. Today she is a symbol of the fight against the injustices of Islamic fundamentalism.
According to the verdict, Satrapi is “an essential voice for the defense of human rights and freedom. Satrapi is a symbol of civic engagement led by women. Due to her audacity and artistic production, she is considered one of the most influential people in the dialogue between cultures and generations. The award wishes to highlight Marjane Satrapi’s talent for reinventing the relationships between art and communication, as in her graphic novel Persepolis, in which she exemplarily captures the search for a more just and inclusive world. The jury, on this occasion, was made up of Luis María Anson, Rosa María Calaf, Irene Cano, Gabriela Cañas Pita de la Vega, Concepción Cascajosa, Adela Cortina, Estrella de Diego, Miguel Falomir, Taciana Fisac, Álex Grijelmo, Alma Guillermoprieto , Miguel Ángel Liso Tejada, Catalina Luca de Tena, Miguel Ángel Oliver, Enrique Pascual Pons, Carmen Riera, Diana Sorensen, with Víctor García de la Concha as president and Óscar Loureda as secretary. The candidacy had been proposed by María Sheila Cremaschi, director in Spain of the Hay Festival, an entity awarded the same award in 2020.
Born into a wealthy and progressive family, at the age of 14 her parents sent her to study at the French high school in Vienna to avoid the oppressive environment in their country after the Islamic revolution, and then she returned to Iran, where she began Fine Arts, to emigrate in 1994 to Paris, where he has lived since then.
His first work, the graphic novel Persepolis (Norma, four volumes between 2002 and 2004, later republished by Reservoir Books), is an autobiography that shows the passage from a secular society to the dictatorship of the ayatollahs and the difficulties he had in breaking through. with the progressive hardening and repression of the guardians of the revolution. In 2007, her adventures became an animated film that she directed with Vincent Paronnaud and that the following year led them to win the Cannes jury prize and two Cesar awards, in addition to being a candidate for the Oscar for best animated film. .
Later she continued with stories based on the daily life of women in her country of origin, such as Bordados in 2003 or Pollo con prunas – on this occasion starring a man who has lost the hope of living – in 2004, with which won the award for best album at the Angoulême festival, the most important European comics festival. He has also directed non-animated films, the last of which, in 2020, was the biopic Marie Curie, starring Rosamund Pike and based, of course, on the graphic novel by Lauren Redniss Radioctivo. A story of love and side effects (Norma, 2019).
