Touka Neyestani ( fa, توکا نیستانی) (born 1960) is an Iranian

political cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curre ...

who lives in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. He is the brother of

Mana Neyestani Mana Neyestani ( fa, مانا نیستانی; born 29 May 1973) is an Iranian cartoonist, illustrator, and comic book creator. His work appears internationally in economic, intellectual, political and cultural magazines. He is particularly known f ...

, who is also a cartoonist.

Life and career

Touka Neyestani was born in Tehran into a literary family. His father Manouchehr Neyestani (1936 - 1981) was a well-known Iranian poet and his brother

also became a cartoonist and political satirist. Touka Neyestani is a well-known and popular cartoonist in Iran in his own right. He collaborates with more than 40 Iranian newspapers, and also produces cartoons for ''Nebel Spalter'', a weekly publication printed in Switzerland. He has participated in several international cartoon exhibitions held in Japan, Belgium, Turkey, Iran, and Italy. Political satirists, living in Iran, face a number of threats. Work for cartoonists in daily newspapers has largely dried up. A website known as Persian Cartoons (Persiancartoons.com), designed to provide a mechanism for political satire to be dessiminated, was shut down in 2005, and many cartoonists have been forced to flee the country to escape the Secret Police. As a result, Neyestani has gravitated towards social media as the primary outlet for his cartoons, simply because it gives him greater control over who can read and comment on his posts. Facebook is also less likely to be hacked by the Islamic regime's cyber-security team. The Internet and social media have played an important part of the evolution of political satire in Iran.

Awards

He is the winner of many prizes,Sreberny, A. and Torfeh, M. (eds), ''Cultural Revolution in Iran: Contemporary Popular Culture in the Islamic Republic,'' I.B.Tauris, 30 Oct. 2013, p. 200 some from International cartoon exhibitions, including: *The Fifth Yomiuri Shimbun Cartoon Contest - Excellence Prize - 1984 *11th Simavi International Cartoon Competition - Honorable Mention - 1993 *First International Cartoon Competition, "Iran": "Man and Nature" - Honorable Mention - 1997 *Sbadiglio Umoristico - Honorable Mention - 1998

References

External links

Human Rights Organisation, Collection of Cartoons by Touka Neyestani
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neyestani, Touka 1960 births Iranian caricaturists Iranian cartoonists People from Shahrud, Iran Living people Iran University of Science and Technology alumni