Nicola Dinan's Disappoint Me wins the New Adult Book Prize at Cheltenham Literature Festival

Nicola Dinan’s "rich" second novel Disappoint Me (Doubleday) has won the New Adult Book Prize 2025.

Dinan is the first recipient of the prize which was founded this year by The Bookseller, and is run in partnership with Cheltenham Literature Festival.

She was announced as this year’s winner live at the festival on Saturday 18th October in an event with fellow shortlisted authors Silvia Saunders and Seth Insua.

Disappoint Me follows Max, a trans woman who is both a published poet and legal counsel for a tech company. After hitting her head on New Year’s Eve, Max decides to make a change and launch herself back on the London dating scene. Enter Vincent – a corporate lawyer and fantastic cook, but is he too good to be true?

The chapters from Max’s perspective are interspersed with Vincent’s experience travelling in Thailand years before. In Thailand, he meets Alex, a young woman travelling alone, and makes a terrible mistake, the repercussions of which threaten to extinguish his relationship with Max. Together, Max and Vincent must navigate uncertain terrain, contend with cultural perceptions of trans identity and create a future that works for them both.

Emma Whittle, programming strategic lead and VOICEBOX producer at Cheltenham Literature Festival, commented: "Disappoint Me is a beautifully relatable exploration of love, identity and the challenges of staying true to yourself. We’re thrilled to have hosted the inaugural New Adult Book Prize event at VOICEBOX during the Cheltenham Literature Festival and we offer huge congratulations to Nicola as its first winner.”

Judge Lizzie Damilola Blackburn said: "Thought-provoking, gut-wrenching, and ultimately hopeful, Disappoint Me reminded me why I love reading – the joy of learning about other people’s experiences. Dinan’s writing is sharp, layered and deeply human – and, as a fellow author, frankly aspirational. Disappoint Me is a worthy winner that will stay with me for a long time."

Fellow judge and co-host of the prize event at Cheltenham Literature Festival, Coco Omer, said: "Disappoint Me did the opposite, it thrilled me! Nicola Dinan writes with such wit, warmth, and honesty that you will want to underline every other sentence."

Disappoint Me is Dinan’s second novel following from her Polari Prize-winning debut Bellies, also published with Doubleday.

Head of Doubleday publicity Milly Reid called Disappoint Me a "landmark publication… that seeks to engage Nicola’s existing readers and welcome new fans to the fold" in the acquisition announcement.

Dinan was appointed the winner of the £2,000 award by a panel of judges comprising Damilola Blackburn; managing director at The Pitch Agency, Caley Routledge; Omer and Chloe Barsby, programming assistant at Cheltenham Festivals.

The Bookseller’s staff writer Katie Fraser, who chaired the discussion, said: "The New Adult Book Prize shortlist was nothing short of incredible and celebrated all aspects of this new and exciting space. Disappoint Me is a brilliant winner – Dinan relates Max and Vincent’s interiority with acuity and compassion, crafting a story that will linger with readers well beyond the final page. The novel is a triumph and I’m delighted it stands as the prize’s first winner."

Insua’s Human, Animal (Verve) and Saunder’s Homesick (HarperFiction) were on the 10-strong shortlist alongside Maiga Doocy’s Sorcery and Small Magics (Orbit), Nikkitha Bakshani’s Ghost Chilli (Fleet), Rebecca Yarros’ Onyx Storm (Piatkus), Aria Aber’s Good Girl (Bloomsbury), Sabaa Tahir’s Heir (Atom), Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing (Macmillan) and Laura Wood’s Under Your Spell (Simon & Schuster).

The New Adult Book Prize was founded to celebrate "one of the fastest growing areas of fiction publishing" by The Bookseller and is run in partnership with Cheltenham Literature Festival. Submissions for the 2026 New Adult Book Prize will open in spring next year.

Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller, said: "A fantastic winner comes after a fantastic season for this new award. Thanks to the brilliant team behind it, our partner Cheltenham, the publishers who supported it, the judges who selected the shortlist and winner, the guild who amplified it and, of course, the writers and readers who are buoying this exciting segment of the book market."