U of M Selects The Complete Persepolis for Summer
Reading Program

For release: June 1, 2009
For press information, contact Barbara Ching, 901-678-4586

The Complete Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. It depicts the contradiction between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; her high school years in Vienna; her homecoming, both the sweet and terrible; and finally, of her self-imposed exile from her homeland.

“Satrapi tells us about her life growing up in revolutionary Iran, and she does this in such a captivating format ¬– as a graphic novel,” says a reviewer. “This is a book that you’ll have a hard time putting down. It’s captivating; you’ll find passages that will make you laugh, and others that will make you cry. It will give students a little foundation on Iran, a better understanding of the culture, and a better appreciation of an area of the world that is so misunderstood.”

Everyone is invited to read the book this summer and to think of it as a point of connection linking the community and the University of Memphis. More information is available online at memphisreads.memphis.edu