Mana Neyestani

Mana Neyestani is an award-winning cartoonist from Iran with over 20 years experience. Born in Tehran, Iran in 1973, Mana Neyestani trained as an architect in Tehran University, but began his carrer in 1990 as a cartoonist and illustrator for many cultural, political, literary and economic magazines. With the rise of Iranian reformist newspapers in 1999, he became an editorial cartoonist. From 2003-2006 he was in charge of the children's section of the weekly magazine Iranjome, now banned.  Neyestani has published several collections, including 'The Life of Mr. Ka' and an autobiographical graphic novel, 'Metamorphosis: The Iranian Way.' 

Neyestani came under fire in 2006 for a cartoon that highlighted the plight of the minority Azeri community in northwestern Iran; the cartoon incited rioting among Azeris. He was subsequently held in prison for three months and fled Iran while awaiting trial. He arrived in Paris in 2011 as the city's first ICORN writer-in-residence.

In the media:

June 2017: Stavanger Aftenblad, Kafka og eg

April 2017: Iran Wire, A film about Mana Neyestani's An Iranian Metamorphosis

22 August 2016: Mana Neyestani, dessinateur iranien et réfugié politique

9 February 2015: The Comics Journal, The Mana Neyestani Interview 

12 December 2014: Vice, A Persian Cartoonist Illustrated His Fall from Grace in His New Graphic Novel