Review: Woman Life Freedom by Marjane Satrapi.
Seven Stories Press, March 2024. 272 p. ill. ISBN 978-1644214053 (softcover), $23.31.
Reviewed August 2025
By: Lizzie Nagy, Library Assistant at National Art School, Sydney, Australia
Woman Life Freedom is a collection of graphic essays about Iran’s civil rights movement following the 2022 killing of Jina Mahsa Amini in Tehran by the morality police because she was allegedly wearing her veil improperly. Each essay is written by one of four experts on Iran and illustrated by one of seventeen Iranian and international cartoonists.
Speaking to an international audience, and some ten percent of Iran’s population living as diaspora, it explores topics including the lives of young jailed activists and the roles of class, censorship and alleged government crimes.
Woman Life Freedom sings with optimism towards a “free Iran.” The result of four journalistic voices expressed through so many pairs of hands is uncommon in graphic journalism, but it makes an excellent comparative study in the way a cartoonist adds value to the work of professionals whose usual job is to completely canvas their topic through writing. Cartoonists are tasked with bringing painterly and cinematic elements to the authors’ data and perspective using their toolkit of iteration, experimentation and, amidst all the seriousness, play – which is evident in these bright pages.
The result splays out each respective authors’ love of the country like light through a faceted gem. Even Marjane Satrapi’s version of a surly guard officer is rendered in soft curves that bid the possibility of a more peaceful existence. Another visual standout is Touka Neyestani’s gift of snarling monsters to Jean Pierre-Perin’s “Who Rules Iran?” – in a way that speaks to Safdar Ahmed’s ghouls in “Still Alive.” Deloupy’s warm shadows make Farid Vahid’s bustling Tehran look homey, with its warm tones.
This is an important piece of graphic nonfiction with purpose, rigour and heart, suited to young adults, more mature readers, and those who want to tune into creative voices from out of Iran. Woman Life Freedom would be an excellent addition to public and academic adult library collections.
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