Black-and-white illustrated cover reading “Dispatches From the Black Hole” by nienko, featuring a bundled child perched on the edge of a scary industrial hole.
Black-and-white sketch of a bespectacled anime-style student wearing a school uniform and tie.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLACK HOLE is a work of comics journalism telling the stories of seven trans teenagers living in Russia.

Told in their own voices, it is a time capsule from the summer of 2026 and a snapshot of seven very different young people trying to build lives amid war and repression, while looking for ways out of a country that wants them to disappear. 

Based on seven completed interviews, with scripts reviewed and approved by the interviewees. Currently in the drawing stage.

Black-and-white illustration of Sasha, a striped-sock character wearing a hat and scarf, sitting beside a radiator.
Black-and-white drawing of a Medusa-like woman with hair resembling wires or sound waves, folded arms, and robot hands.
High-contrast black-and-white drawing of a human hand holding a cigarette against the backdrop of an urban underpass or alley featuring Russian signage.

For publishers and literary agents:

Publication inquiries are welcome. Sample chapters are available privately upon request at nienko@bu.edu

Names, likenesses and identifying details have been changed to protect the interviewees.

About the author:

Sophia Kornienko (“nienko”) is a Russian-Dutch journalist, cartoonist and documentary filmmaker based in Boston. She spent over 15 years working as a reporter and visual journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Russian Service and has contributed to major Dutch media, including NPO Radio 1 and NRC Handelsblad. Her documentary films have screened internationally and won awards. She is also the mother of two trans teenagers. Dispatches from the Black Hole is her thesis project for the MFA in Visual Narrative at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.