Mina Yakinya

Mina became a member of the Janklow & Nesbit family in 2024, following a tenure in Rights at Bonnier Books UK and previously interning at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. In her current position, she is re-joining Hayley Steed as her assistant.

An avid reader of historical fiction, Mina gravitates towards novels set in metropolitan cities that paint tender portraits of immigrant and working-class stories such as the novels of Angie Cruz, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. She also loves the contemporary counterparts to these with notable titles including Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez and the works of Weike Wang with their searing explorations of growing up in the diaspora.

Novels that have a whimsical essence to them across genres is another area in fiction she loves; anything that might feel like a Studio Ghibli animation such as Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsjuimura.

On the darker side of fiction, Mina loves the subtle, domestic tones of gothic horror found in the works of Shirley Jackson and enjoys reading haunting upmarket fiction underpinned by socio-political commentaries, especially if they have speculative twists or magic realism like in Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark.