Guantanamo Voices: An Anthology True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison

Guantánamo Voices is a graphic novel anthology of illustrated narratives about the prison and the lives it changed forever.

Introduction by Omar El Akkad

In January 2002, the United States sent a group of Muslim men they suspected of terrorism to a prison in Guantánamo Bay. They were the first of roughly 780 prisoners who would be held there—and 40 inmates still remain. More than 20 years later, very few of them have been ever charged with a crime.

In Guantánamo Voices, journalist Sarah Mirk and her team of diverse, talented graphic novel artists tell the stories of 10 people whose lives have been shaped and affected by the prison, including former prisoners, lawyers, social workers, and service members. This collection of illustrated interviews explores the history of Guantánamo and the world post-9/11, presenting this complicated partisan issue through a new lens.

“Moving details emerge, as when one detainee narrates his relationship with an iguana, along with profound frustration; in the words of one attorney, ‘The law is a joke.’ The island colors and collection of styles make for a surprisingly artful book.” —New York Times Book Review

“An eye-opening, damning indictment of one of America’s worst trespasses that continues to this day.” —Kirkus Reviews

Sarah Mirk is a multimedia journalist whose work focuses on telling nuanced, human-focused stories. She is an editor of The Nib and the former online editor of national feminism and pop-culture magazine Bitch Media. She lives in Portland, Oregon.