Marjane Satrapi was born in Rasht, Iran, on November 22, 1969. Her maternal great-grandfather was Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Qajar emperor of Iran before Reza Khan overthrew him in 1925 and took power. Satrapi's parents were very modern and progressive, and as a child Satrapi attended the Lycée Français, one of Tehran's finest schools. At the age of fourteen, in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War, Satrapi was sent to Austria by her parents. She returned four years later, after the war ended. Satrapi attended the College of Art at an Iranian university, earning a degree, and was married for a short time before divorcing and moving to France.

Earning wide critical praise and sales, the autobiographical Persepolis made Satrapi a major figure in European comics. In 2004, she published Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, which takes up where the first book ends. Poulet...