Marjane Satrapi, author of “Persépolis”, wins the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities

The French-Iranian cartoonist, filmmaker and painter Marjane Satrapione of the most prominent names in international comics, was honored this Tuesday in Spain with the Princess Award for Communication and Humanities 2024. Satrapi (Rash, Iran, 1969) is the author of the graphic novel ‘Persepolis’ (2000), an autobiographical work that begins at the end of the Shah’s regime and describes the difficulties of living under a theocratic and Islamist state from the perspective of a teenager.

The four-volume publication, considered by many to be one of the best graphic novels ever published, brought Satrapi to fame and was adapted by her and Vincent Paronnaud to animated film in June 2007, a work that was worthy of the Grand Prize. of Critics at the Cannes Festival.

Author of other relevant works such as ‘Embroideries’ (2003) and ‘Chicken with plums’ (2004), also adapted to film in 2011, Satrapi coordinated the book ‘Woman, life and freedom’ in 2023, about the uprisings that occurred in Iran after the murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the so-called ‘morality police’.

Among other works, in 2020 he released ‘Radiactive. Marie Curie ‘, a new cinematographic vision of the only two-time Nobel-winning scientist, whom she admired from a very young age, and she also starred in important painting exhibitions in French galleries

The Award jury praised Satrapi as “an essential voice for the defense of human rights and freedom” and “a symbol of civic engagement led by women.”

The minutes read this afternoon by the president of the jury, Víctor García de la Concha, highlights that the author, due to her “audacity and production,” is considered “one of the most influential people in the dialogue between cultures and generations.”

The jury also wanted to highlight “Marjane Satrapi’s talent for reinventing the relationships between art and communication”as in his graphic novel ‘Persépolis’ (2000), “in which he exemplarily captures the search for a more just and inclusive world.”

Satrapi’s candidacy was proposed by María Sheila Cremaschi, director for Spain of the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, an entity awarded the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.

This award, intended to distinguish “the work of cultivating and perfecting the sciences and disciplines considered as humanistic activities and those related to social media in all its expressions,” went on other occasions to the philosophers Nuccio Ordine and Emilio Lledó. ; journalists Adam Michnik and Alma Guillermoprieto; the Guadalajara International Book Fair (Mexico); the Prado Museum; the Argentine group Les Luthiers; photographers James Nachtwey and Annie Leibovitz; the graphic humorist Joaquín Salvador Lavado “Quino”, or the video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

The jury, which on this occasion had to deliberate on forty-seven candidates from fifteen nationalities, was formed, among others, by the president of EFE, Miguel Ángel Oliver; the former presidents of the agency Gabriela Cañas, Alex Grijelmo and Luis María Ansón; the director of the National Prado Museum, Miguel Falomir; the general director of Meta Iberia, Irene Cano, or the former president of Diario ABC Catalina Luca de Tena.

The Princess of Asturias Foundation is a private, non-profit institution, whose objectives are to contribute to the exaltation and promotion of all the scientific, cultural and humanistic values ​​that are universal heritage and to consolidate the existing links between the Principality of Asturias (northern Spain) and the title traditionally held by the heirs of the Crown of Spain.

With information from EFE