Woman, Life, Freedom

An urgent, groundbreaking and visually stunning new collection of graphic story-telling about the present Iranian revolution from Marjane Satrapi, author of A collaboration of activists, artists, journalists, and academics working together to depict the historic uprising--with comics that show what would be censored in photos and film in Iran--in solidarity with the Iranian people, in defense of feminism. On September 13th 2022, a young Iranian student, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by the religious police in Tehran. Her only crime was that she wasn’t properly wearing the headscarf required for women by the Islamic Republic. At the police station, she was beaten so badly she had to be taken to the hospital, where she fell into a deep coma. She died three days later. The plight of this 22-year-old woman raised a wave of protests that soon spread through the whole country, and crowds adopted the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom.” Around the world, these words have been chanted during solidarity rallies. In this powerful visual collection of graphic novel style essays, Marjane Satrapi has gathered together intense narration by herself and an array of journalists and writers with graphic art perspectives from esteemed collaborators including Coco, a press cartoonist at Charlie Hebdo; Patricia Bolaños, a Spanish illustrator based in Brooklyn; Mana Neyestani, an Iranian cartoonist and illustrator; and Paco Roca, a Spanish comic book artist, Shabnam Adiban, an Iranian illustrator based in Toronto, among others. Together, these are the artists and story-tellers Marjane Satrapi has chosen to tell the story of a major revolution happening in her homeland of Iran today that has inspired support from around the world. Contributing artists, including four Iranians. Joann Sfar, Coco, Mana Neyastani, Catel, Pascal Rabate, Patricia Bolanos, Paco Roca, Bahareh Akrami, Hippolyte, Shabnam Adiban, Lewis Trondheim, Winshluss, Touka Neyastani, Bee, Deloupy, Nicolar Wild, Hamoun. (Two artists have taken a pen name, Bee and Hamoun.) ...

Autorentext

MARJANE SATRAPI, author of Persepolis, is an autobiographical series that sold more than two million copies and won international awards. After writing two other prize-winning books (Embroidery and Chicken with Plums), she devoted herself to cinema and painting. Her first two films are adaptations of her works: the animated film Persepolis, which received two Cesar awards and was nominated for an Oscar, and her film Poulet aux prunes, which won awards in Abu Dhabi and Sao Paulo.

UNA DIMITRIJEVIĆ was born in Bosnia, grew up in Scotland, and now lives in France. She translates from Serbo-Croat and French into English. Her translations of The Mental Load: A Feminist Comic and The Emotional Load and Other Invisible Stuff were published by Seven Stories Press in 2018 and 2020.

JEAN-PIERRE PERRIN is a journalist, war correspondent, and reporter who covers the Near and Middle East, and currently the Iran correspondent for Médiapart. His books have been awarded the
Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle and the Joseph Kessel Prize.

FARID VAHID is an Iranian political scientist. He graduated from the University of Tehran in electrical engineering and from Sciences Po Lyon in international relations. He now lives in Paris where he is director of the Observatory of North Africa and the Middle East of the Jean Jaurès Foundation.

ABBAS MALEKZADEH MILANI is an Iranian-American historian. He is a visiting professor of political science and director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. He is also a researcher and co-director of the Democracy in Iran Project at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

Contributing artists, including four Iranians. Joann Sfar, Coco, Mana Neyastani, Catel, Pascal Rabate, Patricia Bolanos, Paco Roca, Bahareh Akrami, Hippolyte, Shabnam Adiban, Lewis Trondheim, Winshluss, Touka Neyastani, Bee, Deloupy, Nicolar Wild, Hamoun. (Two artists have taken a pen name, Bee and Hamoun.)

Klappentext

**Winner, ALA ALEX Award

An urgent, groundbreaking and visually stunning new collection of graphic storytelling about the present Iranian revolution, using comics to show what would be censored in photos and film in Iran.

Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, returns to graphic art with this collaboration of over 20 activists, artists, journalists, and academics working together to depict the historic uprising, in solidarity with the Iranian people and in defense of feminism.**

On September 13th 2022, a young Iranian student, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by the morality police in Tehran. Her only crime was that she wasn’t properly wearing the headscarf required for women by the Islamic Republic. At the police station, she was beaten so badly she had to be taken to the hospital, where she fell into a deep coma. She died three days later.

A wave of protests soon spread through the whole country, and crowds adopted the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom”—words that have been chanted around the world during solidarity rallies.

In order to tell the story of this major revolution happening in her homeland, Marjane Satrapi has gathered together an array of journalists, activists, academics, artists, and writers from around the world to create this powerful collection of full-color, graphic-novel-style essays and perspectives that bear witness:

• Contributing artists: Joann Sfar, Coco, Mana Neyastani, Catel, Pascal Rabate, Patricia Bolanos, Paco Roca, Bahareh Akrami, Hippolyte, Shabnam Adiban, Lewis Trondheim, Winshluss, Touka Neyastani, Bee, Deloupy, Nicolas Wild, and Marjane Satrapi.

• 3 expert perspectives on Iran: long-time journalist for Libération and political scientist Jean-Pierre Perrin; researcher and Iran specialist Farid Vahid; and UC Berkeley historian Abbas Milani, Director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University.
  Woman, Life, Freedom demonstrates that this is not an unexpected movement, but a major uprising in a long history of women who have wanted to affirm their rights. It will continue.

Leseprobe
Introduction by Marjane Satrapi

On September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini was beaten to death by the Iranian morality police for wearing her veil “improperly.” Her death sparked a nationwide outcry, evolving into a feminist revolution that gained the support of men—a truly unprecedented development.

Sophie, the heart and soul of the L’Iconoclaste publishing house and my dear friend, was not content with mere outrage and indignation. She was determined to take tangible action, driven by how profoundly connected she felt to the young people of Iran. The idea of this book was hers. It would be her publishing house’s first graphic novel and it would be titled: Woman, Life, Freedom.

Joined by Alba Beccaria, the book’s editor, we began to craft both its form and substance. We needed to work with people who knew Iran intimately. Among our chosen experts were Farid Vahid, a political scientist specializing in Iran at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès, Jean-Pierre Perrin, a seasoned reporter previously with Libération and now a contributor to Mediapart, and Professor Abbas Milani, a historian and Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University.

We then reached out to around twenty gifted artists to produce comics or illustrations based on texts and scenarios prepared by our experts. Four Iranian artists and thirteen others from Europe and America are the final contributors to this project.
 
Having bid farewell to my career as a cartoonist back in 2004, I contributed a handful of drawings, including the cover, as well as a few written pieces.

I didn’t know what it meant to oversee the compilation of such a …