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Nicole Cuffy

Biography

Nicole Cuffy

Nicole Cuffy is the author of DANCES, longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and O SINNERS! Cuffy has an MFA from The New School and is a lecturer at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University. Her work can be found in the New England Review; The Masters Review, Volume VI (curated by Roxane Gay); Chautauqua; and Blue Mesa Review. Her chapbook, ATLAS OF THE BODY, won the Chautauqua Janus Prize and was a finalist for the Black River Chapbook Competition. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Nicole Cuffy

Books by Nicole Cuffy

O Sinners!
by Nicole Cuffy - Fiction

After the death of his father, a young journalist named Faruq Zaidi takes the opportunity to embed himself in a mysterious cult based in the California redwoods and known as “the nameless,” whose strikingly attractive members adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as “all suffering is distortion” and “see only beauty.” Shepherding them is Odo, an enigmatic Vietnam War veteran who received “the sight” --- the movement’s foundational principles --- during his time as an infantryman. Through flashbacks that recount the cult’s wartime origins, we see four soldiers contend with the existential struggles of combat and with their responsibilities to each other. By the end of the novel, we learn which one becomes Odo.