Nicola Dinan

Jan 6, 2025 | theguardian.com | Nicola Dinan |Eromo Egbejule

I enjoyed Pretentiousness: Why It Matters by Dan Fox. I am a guilty user of the word pretentious, which the book methodically rebukes over its hundred-and-something pages. Art moves forward because people aspire to things they are not (I certainly feel this as a writer). It’s also a word with deeply classist roots, made even worse by the fact that its meaning is often unclear.

Nov 15, 2024 | bookanista.com | Nicola Dinan

I WORE A DRESS on the night I first met Ming. A crowd swarmed the union bar, and my shoulders jostled as boys dressed as girls and girls dressed as boys pushed in and out of the front line. A tightness seized my brain, a vacuum-pack seal over its folds. I looked up. Large paper flowers hung from the vaulted ceilings, tinsel streamers stretched from one corner of the long Victorian hall to the other, music blared through the double doors opposite the bar.

Dec 5, 2023 | readings.com.au | Siân Hughes |Colin Walsh |Eliza Clark |Nicola Dinan

It's been a gargantuan year for debuts, both local and international. Below is a list of some of our favourite international debut fiction, published during 2023, to read this summer. You can explore must-read local debuts here. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahWelcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars – the highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program inside America's private prison system.

Oct 19, 2023 | itsonlyzach.substack.com | Nicola Dinan |Angie Kim |S.A. Cosby |Matt Baume

I think every year around this time how perfect it is that National Coming Out Day bumps right up against the anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard. For folks my age, there was perhaps no other historical moment that impacted our willingness or desire to come out more than his murder. It taught us the frustrating lesson that for us the key to acceptance and respect would always be making ourselves visible, familiar, and known.

Oct 3, 2023 | newsgroove.co.uk | Nicola Dinan

This week, we’re thrilled to be joined by Nicola Dinan to discuss her debut novel, Bellies, which follows the fluctuating relationship of Tom and Ming in the wake of Ming’s transition. We chat with Nicola about the danger of portraying trans characters as overly virtuous, how to avoid this reductive trope in writing, and why trans people should be allowed to be selfish, indecisive, and even unlikeable.