Marjane Satrapi Interview

Satrapi, 38, is the author of Persepolis, a graphic memoir recounting her childhood in Iran, the overthrow of the corrupt Shah, the terror of the Khomeini years, the war with Iraq, the refuge she sought in Europe, and her painful path to adulthood. Persepolis, the Greek name for Persia, is desperately moving and extremely funny - a little girl's sarcastic love letter to her family. Young Marjane is a stroppy, piss-taking, veil-wearing Marxist-anarchist who embraces her many contradictions with self-absorbed relish. When she's not preaching communism, she's predicting her future as a religious prophet; when she's not pogoing down the streets as a young punk, she's listening to the turgid prog rock of Camel or the bubblegum pop of Kim Wilde.