Amy Kurzweil, the illustrator for The Verge’s ‘Notes on a Burmese Prison,’ discusses her significant collaboration with Danny Fenster.
During the 2021 coup in Myanmar, American journalist Danny Fenster was detained for six months as a political prisoner. He used meditation and podcasts from an SD card smuggled in by mail from his girlfriend, Juliana, to cope with his confinement.
Nearly five years post-release, Fenster teamed up with his cousin Amy Kurzweil, a renowned New Yorker cartoonist, to create a graphic memoir for The Verge about his imprisonment. In an email interview, Kurzweil detailed her role and approach to storytelling through illustration in this complex project.
Kristen Radtke, who is The Verge’s creative director and has received ASME design and American Illustration awards since 2021, conducted the interview. Kurzweil, known for works focusing on family history, shared insights into depicting Fenster’s story.
Kurzweil sought advice from Ahmed Naji, who had been imprisoned in Egypt, about coping with the distress of not knowing Fenster’s fate. Her family actively worked to secure Fenster’s release, forming a community around the #BringDannyHome and #ProtectThePress efforts.
Creating the comic provided Kurzweil and her family with a sense of healing by detailing Fenster’s experience. The collaboration involved Fenster crafting prose, which he and Kurzweil adapted into a comic script. Kurzweil emphasized the importance of drawing in understanding and illustrating spaces unknown to her.
Frequent communication with Fenster and resources like Google Maps and drawings from Maung Pho, another former prisoner, helped Kurzweil construct accurate depictions of Fenster’s environment.
Kurzweil highlighted how traditional drawing and modern technology played roles in crafting the project. Despite challenges, she found drawing to be a powerful tool for truth and connection.
Fenster’s prison experience included moments of reprieve without his phone, prompting reflections on storytelling’s significance in honoring individual stories in an information-saturated world.
Kurzweil and Fenster hope their story, enriched by craft and emotion, offers readers an immersive experience. The narrative climax features Fenster receiving a meaningful podcast episode, emphasizing the power of storytelling even in adversity.