An Iranian Metamorphosis

By Mana Neyestani. Published by Uncivilized Books.

Softcover, 200 pages, B&W, 2014.

"[Mana Neyestani] remolds the exhausting terrors of his life’s worst months into grim comedy, and presents his friends and adversaries alike as mad-eyed, putty-bodied grotesques, crosshatched with a political caricaturist’s wicked eye for frailties."
—New York Times

"Neyestani, who uses Kafka as a reference point, is plunged into a nightmare as bizarre as Gregor Samsa’s […] From the opening panel, Neyestani’s account of his personal ordeal masterfully conveys tension with a dense, cross-hatched style that powerfully evokes the claustrophobia of his imprisonment, and the lasting mental effects of his senseless persecution."
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

"While Neyestani's experiences feel so foreign and dangerous, the way he tells the story is very human and relatable. With his black and white artwork and universal cartooning, Neyestani brings us into the story as the images don't make this just an Iranian story but a very human story."—Panel Patter

Can a cartoon cause riots? It seems unbelievable but for Mana Neyestani it's true. One of his cartoons sparked riots, shuttered the newspaper Neyestani worked for, and landed the cartoonist his editor in solitary confinement inside of Iran's notorious prison system. Mana Neyestani story, which can only be described as Kafkaesque, is vividly brought to life in An Iranian Metamophosis.

Mana Neyestani (born 1973, in Tehran) is an Iranian cartoonist and illustrator for economic, intellectual, political, cultural, and professional magazines. He is particularly known for his work for the newspaper Zan and Persian language Radio Zamaneh. He is the recipient of the Cartoonists Rights Network International award for courage in editorial cartooning, 2010. He now lives in France.