"Satrapi grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and its aftermath; Persepolis is the story of her childhood. Through Marji’s youthful (though not-always-innocent) eyes and mind, we see a turbulent moment in history unfold, and we witness the tremendous impact that local and global events and politics can have on even the most intimate moments of personal lives. We experience with Marji her day-to-day dreams and struggles, from family strife to wrestling with religious faith and custom. We’re swept up in her parents’ anxieties and her grandmother’s memories of an utterly different era. And we get a very real sense of what it was like to be a woman in Iran during this intense time of cultural and political transition."

"Throughout my writing life I have relied on Marina Warner to guide me through the hidden realms of literature and culture. She has a wast knowledge of folk stories, religious tracts, legends and classical works from all points of the globe and her analysis of how they continue to be present in our lives and work is always inspiring. In Stranger Magic she tells the story of how Scheherazade’s tales in The Arabian Nights were embraced and appropriated by western culture without ever loosing their original power. As I am working my way towards a new novel which includes the influence of Arabic culture on medieval Icelandic writing Warner has once again provided me with her keen insight into the mechanisms of how stories travel."

"Seeing Charlton Heston reciting lines from Woodstock and wearing jumpsuits that look like he’s out of Gilligan’s Island — there are lots of good things. The thing I liked about this is that the vampire characters were played by real people. They had a really cool look to them — black robes, dark glasses. Not Charlton Heston with his shirt off. [laughs] I was kind of obsessed by him, because he’s like the greatest bad actor of all time. Between this and Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green and The Ten Commandments — I know that was a religious film but I always thought it was like the first zombie movie. He starts out like this real person and by the end he’s like this weird zombie."