Biography: Touka Neyestani

Born in 1960, in Shahroud, Iran, Touka Neyestani studied architecture at the Science and Industry University of Tehran from which he graduated with a Masters degree. Upon graduation, he started working with several weekly publications including the famous Ketab-e-Jomeh whose editor was none other than Ahmad Shamloo, one of Iran’s most famous contemporary poets. Over the past years Touka Neyestani has worked with over forty publications both inside Iran and in such countries as Switzerland. Likewise, he has participated in and won seven international cartoon exhibition prizes from such exhibitions as the Fifth Yomiuri Shimbun Cartoon Contest of Japan, 1984, the Belgium Extra Sporta Prijs, 1987, and the Sbadiglio Umoristico prize of Italy, 1998. A leading caricaturist, Touka Neystani has poked fun at some of the most tender topics both within his own society and in that of the world community. Such topics include tender issues of the traditional mother and son relationships of his homeland and the international fear of the kind of terrorism the Taliban advocates worldwide. Presently, Touka Neyestani is living and working in Tehran.