Nicola Dinan (born 15 March 1994) is a British-Malaysian novelist. Her debut novel "Bellies" (2023) won the Polari First Book Prize.
Early life.
Dinan was born in Hong Kong to a British father and a Chinese-Malaysian mother and grew up between there and Kuala Lumpur, where she attended an international school. Dinan began her studies in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and "ended up specialising in the history and philosophy of science". She then pursued a law conversion and subsequently worked at a law firm reviewing contracts. While penning her debut novel, Dinan joined the Faber Academy's Writing a Novel workshop.
Career.
In March 2022, Doubleday won a nine-way auction to publish Dinan's debut novel "Bellies" in summer 2023. Starting the writing process in 2020, she had initially written "Bellies" as a short story titled "early morning single bed". 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". Ahead of its release, Element Pictures optioned the rights to adapt "Bellies" for television. "Bellies" won the 2024 Polari First Book Prize. It was also previously shortlisted for the 2021 Mo Siewcharran Prize and later a Lambda Literary Award.
In 2024, Dinan joined Royal Holloway, University of London as a tutor on the university's Creative Writing MA course. She reunited with Doubleday for the publication of her second novel "Disappoint Me" in 2025. "Disappoint Me" was a "Service95" Book Club pick.
Dinan is in the process of writing her third novel and first work of speculative fiction set in 1987 Hong Kong.