Mana Neyestani

He is the 2010 recipient of the Cartoonists Rights Network International Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning. Mana lives in France.

• Birth Name — مانا نیستانی • Born — 29 May 1973 • Birthplace — Tehran, Iran • Nationality — Iranian • Cartoonist — y • Color — Black and white • Awards — Cartoonists Rights Network International award for courage in editorial cartooning, 2010 • Relatives — Touka Neyestani (brother)

Mana was born in Tehran to an Iranian Azeri family. His father Manouchehr Neyestani (1936–1981) was a well-known Iranian poet from Kerman and his mother Azardokht Keshavarzi (1936–2021) was a high school teacher from Tehran. Touka Neyestani, a fellow cartoonist as well, is Mana's older brother. Mana has a master's degree in Architecture from the University of Tehran.

Mana began his professional cartooning career in 1989, and started drawing editorial cartoons in 1998, for Zan. During 1998-2000, he drew a large number of cartoons for various reformist newspapers, such as Asr-e Azadegan, Sobhe Emrooz, Mosharekat, Azad, Neshat (as a freelancer), and Aftab-e Emrooz (as a staff cartoonist). Mana also did many illustrations for kids magazines during his career including Doost magazine. He was in charge of the kids section of the nationwide published newspaper Iran for many years. His cartoons are published regularly on the website of Iranian exile media Radio Zamaneh, as well as Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society and IranWire.

Riots erupted by ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran when they took offense to a Neyestani cartoon published in the children's section of the 12 May 2006 supplement of Iran, a government-run newspaper. The cartoon depicted a cockroach responding in Azerbaijani. Mana and Mehrdad Ghasemfar (the editor-in-chief of Iran) were arrested by government officials and the newspaper was closed down following the riots. Mana and the editor of the paper ended up in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison under conditions the cartoonist described as "Kafkaesque." Three months later, Mana was given a temporary prison leave and used it to flee the country with his wife. He finally ended up in exile in France where he published a graphic novel titled An Iranian Metamorphosis, about his time in prison. Mana clarified the use of the word that was interpreted as from the Azerbaijani language as slang in the Persian language and that he did not want to offend anyone with his cartoon.