Emily Dinova
Emily is an award-winning Writer, Actor, Director, Producer and Martial Artist. She has an MA in Stage and Screen Writing from Regent’s University (London, UK), a Bachelors in English with a Theatre concentration (Writing, Directing, Acting & Film) from Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY) and studied Opera and Classical Vocal Performance for over 13 years. Emily is currently working towards a license to practice Psychoanalysis and will be testing for her Black Belt in Taekwondo in 2026.
She has appeared Off-Broadway in several shows and has toured regularly both nationally and internationally. She also performs in New York City at private venues such as The Union Club and has sung at her fair share of weddings and funerals.
Emily's film, Wet Paint, which she produced and co-starred in (and wrote the original short story!) was accepted by New York Short Film Festival, Scared for your LIIFE, The Russian International Horror Film Festival, The Macabre Faire Film Festival, & was finalist in the Videoscream International Film Festival.
Her play, Capture, a raw and visceral story of one woman’s fight against Domestic Violence was the recipient of the 2015 Fresher Writing Prize in the United Kingdom (Best Stage Play) and was also published later that year by the Fresher Publishing Company. Capture was also a part of The Venus and Adonis Festival in NYC and was received with staggering praise. In June of 2016, it had a production in Bournemouth, UK at the Shelley Theatre and subsequently in 2017, a production at the Seven Angels Theatre in Connecticut.
Cold Porridge was her fifth play to hit the New York Theatre scene in a little over two years (others include: The Locals [writer/actor] at The Jewel Box Theatre, Copse, [writer/director] for the Midtown International Theatre Festival, and Ruptured [writer/actor] for Manhattan Rep.).
Emily directed the film Transit: A NYC Fairytale, which was 187% funded through Kickstarter. The fundraising video stirred up debates and discussions on social media regarding its subject matter with one post alone reaching 10,000 people. Emily headed a promotional campaign for the film at the 2019 Pride Parade in NYC. The film had its World Premier at the Academy Award Qualifying Film Festival, Out on Film, in Atlanta, Georgia. Emily was one of 8 directors who was asked to be part of the Director’s Audition Panel for the 2023 Long Island International Film Expo, where Transit made its New York premiere.
Emily’s short story The Dramma was published in Haunted MTL’s first Horror Anthology. Her short story An Old Life Of Youth was published and featured on Literally Stories as a “Saturday Special” (only six writers in the last six plus years have been given this honor).
Emily is an avid traveler, constantly looking to explore new places, cultures and people, which serves as the inspiration for a lot of her work. Her debut novel, Veil of Seduction, was a finalist in the 2023 International Books Awards. Emily’s web novel Confinement is published with EGlobal Creative Publishing. Emily’s latest novel, The Antagonist, is available now!
Emily is a member of the Actors Equity Association & is SAG-AFTRA eligible.
EMILY’S PUBLISHED WORKS
Emily’s latest novel & psychological thriller, The Antagonist, is now available.
Click the cover for more information!
Emil'y’s debut novel, Veil of Seduction, is now available.
Click the cover for more information!
Click the cover to read Emily’s web novel Confinement.
Link to Emily’s short horror story, The Dramma.
Link to Emily’s short story An Old Life of Youth.
MEDIA & NEWS
New Books Podcast:
Host: Christopher Russell, a psychoanalyst in Chelsea, Manhattan
Today I spoke with Emily Dinova about her new novel The Antagonist (2024).
Dinova, a psychoanalytic candidate working towards a license to practice psychoanalysis, wrote The Antagonist as a way of healing her own trauma. Written as a creative act of revenge, Dinova found herself in a fragmented state while writing the book. “I really feel like a fragmented part of myself wrote this book.” From this fragmented state she created characters who represent several psychoanalytic concepts including repression, negation, the uncanny, and Spotnitzian narcissistic object protection.
The structure of the novel is an enactment of Nachträglichkeit. I found the novel intoxicating and disorienting. It kept me happily off balance throughout. Rooted in the psychological adage that the urge to destroy does not have to be taught, Dinova renders her characters with layers of beguiling complexity. The horrors of this deeply informed psychological thriller unfold gradually. It is a masterful demonstration of unconscious processes.
