Nicola Dinan | |
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Born | |
Years active | 2020–present |
Nicola Dinan (born 15 March 1994) is a British-Malaysian novelist. Her debut novel Bellies (2023) won the Polari First Book Prize.
Dinan was born in British Hong Kong to a British father and a Chinese-Malaysian mother and grew up between there and Kuala Lumpur, [1] [2] where she attended an international school. [3] Dinan began her studies in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and "ended up specialising in the history and philosophy of science". [4] She then pursued a law conversion and subsequently worked at a law firm reviewing contracts. [5] [6] While penning her debut novel, Dinan joined the Faber Academy's Writing a Novel workshop. [7] [8]
In March 2022, Doubleday won a nine-way auction to publish Dinan's debut novel Bellies in summer 2023. [9] [10] Starting the writing process in 2020, she had initially written Bellies as a short story titled "early morning single bed". [11] [12] Set in the late 2010s, the novel explores how its main character Ming's transition impacts her interpersonal relationships rather than portraying the process as "highly individual". [13] Ahead of its release, Element Pictures optioned the rights to adapt Bellies for television. [14] Bellies won the 2024 Polari First Book Prize. [15] It was also previously shortlisted for the 2021 Mo Siewcharran Prize [16] and later a Lambda Literary Award. [17]
In 2024, Dinan joined Royal Holloway, University of London as a tutor on the university's Creative Writing MA course. [7] She reunited with Doubleday [18] for the publication of her second novel Disappoint Me in 2025. [19] [20] Disappoint Me was a Service95 Book Club pick [21] and was shortlisted for the inaugural New Adult Book Prize. [22]
Dinan is in the process of writing her third novel and first work of speculative fiction set in 1987 Hong Kong. [23]