Bellies
by Nicola Dinan
Betty Trask Award · 2025 · ShortlistBetty Trask Award · 2024 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2024 · WinnerPolari Prize · 2023 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2022 · ShortlistPolari Prize · 2021 · Shortlist
Award History
| Award | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Betty Trask Award | 2025 | Shortlist |
| Betty Trask Award | 2024 | Shortlist |
| Polari Prize | 2024 | Winner |
| Polari Prize | 2023 | Shortlist |
| Polari Prize | 2022 | Shortlist |
| Polari Prize | 2021 | Shortlist |
About This Book
Nicola Dinan's debut novel follows Tom and Ming, who meet as students at Cambridge, fall in love, and then navigate their relationship as Ming comes out as a trans woman. Warm, witty, and deeply humane, the novel explores gender transition, desire, and the difficulty of loving someone across transformation. It won the Polari First Book Prize in 2024.
About the Author
Nicola Dinan is a British-Malaysian novelist born in 1994. She studied law at Cambridge and creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Bellies (2023, Fourth Estate) is her debut novel, following Tom and Ming who meet as students at Cambridge, fall in love, and then navigate their relationship as Ming comes out as a trans woman. Read more →
