14 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026 Peop e
In erviews
In To See Beyond , the former war correspondent examines how humanity processes despair and finds hope amid conflict and climate catastrophe. ANNA BADKHEN
There is a lot of sorrow in this book. How did you balance grief without succumbing to it? There is a lot of sorrow in this book because it’s a book about the world. I was thinking about the end of an era of
The new president and sole proprietor of the storied scouting agency, who took over last month following Todd R. Siegal’s retire- ment, looks back on the past 50 years in business—and ahead to the next 50. DANNY YANEZ F NKLIN SIEGAL & YANEZ You’re the agency’s third leader in 50 years. What does that continuity mean? It’s a big deal filling those shoes. One special thing is we’ve had some of the same clients nearly from the start. Our relationships with publisher WSOY Finland goes back to 1978, I believe, and with German publisher Heyne goes back to 1983. We’ve been exclusive with Universal Studios for film going on 26 years—I think that’s the longest New York–Hollywood scouting relationship at this point. We’ve managed to keep these relationships for decades, which speaks to everything Lynn and Todd built and what I’ve tried to main- tain over my 14 years with the company. How has the scout’s role evolved? We’re not agents, not salespeople—we’re advisers, consultants, and relationship builders at the intersection of domestic and international publishing. Technology has had an impact on that. Around 2019, 2020, we discovered Anna Todd’s After on Wattpad, sold it to two clients, and it became a #1 bestseller. Now we’re closely following social media discussions and trends. Zoom means we see our clients more often than just at London and Frankfurt, which was the norm before. What do people misunderstand about scouts? I don’t think it’s as mysterious as people imagine. We have conversations, read books, and try to make things happen. Yes, we’re competitive like most people in publishing, but it’s all in service of the same goal: finding good books and getting them into readers’ hands in every format possible. —ED NAWOTKA
dragons. I had this conversation with the Senegalese writer Louis Camara last spring. He said, “We live in a time of dragons, but the time of dragons will end.” Remember the last time you slayed a dragon? When you pinned it to the ground and you knew it was dead, and its massive tail was thrashing about, and it destroyed everything it reached? e dragon is done. I feel extremely hopeful. And I also feel devastated because no one should be paying this price. What is the dragon? Empire. Some call it patriarchy. Some call it capitalist colonialism. What gives you hope? I teach undergraduate students, and I hear a lot of young people and see a lot of young organizers. ey’re not like us. ey don’t think in hierarchical terms. ey don’t think that there has to be a leader and subordinates. So, I have many reasons to be hopeful. I mean, my god, even in Palestine kids are doing stunts and making music. How do these essays di er from journal- ism? I believe in miracles. ere is a lot of magic in this book, and journalism, the
prayers and dreams and even the magical properties of books. When I worked as a journalist, my task was pretty much to stick to the facts. e writer I am today, I think, my job is actually to see beyond the facts. Do you think journalism is up to the task of describing and explaining this moment? Journalism cannot be the only vehicle. I think theater is a vehicle, visual arts. We need all hands on deck. I was last a journalist in 2015. I stepped away from journalism because the format was insu cient for me. e last piece of journalism I ever wrote was not published because the magazine editor and I disagreed on the fundamental premise of the story, which was that the world is su ering as a result of a failure of love. e editor was like, Love is not a policy, what’s the policy? But love, to me, is a policy. JASMINA KELEMEN
way it has evolved, doesn’t believe in miracles. You can’t fact-check wonder. e book opens with a sojourn a friend of mine and I made to a market in Mali to purchase some lion fat for his arthritis, but also possibly for other kinds of protection. ere are conversations about
Bellevue Literary, Apr.; reviewed on p. 98
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