Notes and Links to Nicole Cuffy’s Work

   Nicole Cuffy is the author of Dances, longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. 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.

Buy O Sinners!

Nicole's Linktree

Los Angeles Times Review of O Sinners!

At about 2:20 , Nicole talks about O Sinners and the feedback she has gotten on the book since publication

At about 3:45 , The two discuss the three POVs/genres of the book and Nicole’s early inspirations, including Toni Morrison and Shirley Jackson

At about 5:25 , Nicole responds to Pete’s inquiry about the wonderful “specificity” of Toni Morrison, and Pete brings up the interesting ways that Myriam Gurba sees allegory and specificity 

At about 6:40 , Nicole talks about Karen Russell and Victor Lavalle and other contemporary favorite writers

At about 8:00 , Pete lays out the book’s exposition and asks Nicole about the significance of a groove in the wall at the narrator Faruq’s house

At about 10:05 , the two discuss Faruq’s complicated feelings towards his aunties and his deceased father 

At about 12:45 , Nicole describes the reporting gig that serves as a catalyst for much of the book’s action 

At about 14:15 , Nicole discusses the significance of an AirPod that says a lot about the way Faruq sees death and his father’s death 

At about 15:45 , Nicole gives some background on the Nameless’ beliefs 

At about 17:05 , Pete gives some background on the book’s structure

At about 18:05 , Nicole outlines the dynamic between the group of soldiers introduced in the “Before” sections of the book

At about 19:30 , Nicole talks about Faruq’s father’s “power[lessness]” in experiencing racism and cites a telling quote from James Baldwin about fathers and sons and racism

At about 23:05 , Nicole responds to Pete’s question about the makeup of the cult, the Nameless, and she expands also on the type of person who might be a cult leader

At about 25:00 , Nicole talks about envisioning the “rage” that Odo, the leader, would harbor coming home after Vietnam in the first US segregated army and continuing to experience systemic racism 

At about 27:45 , Nicole traces the rise of Odo in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, while reflecting on what would make him popular

At about 29:00 , Nicole reflects on the “charisma” and other qualities that drew people to Odo

At about 31:00 , Nicole talks about the Nameless’ move to Texas and the chain of events that led to confrontations 

At about 32:30 , Nicole talks about being “inspired” by the structure and storyline of “Wild, Wild Country”

At about 34:00 , Nicole responds to Pete’s questions about the racism shown by Will Roy and his followers in Texas in response to the Nameless’ move

At about 35:35 , the two talk about small discrepancies in the cult’s history and narrative

At about 37:00 , Nicole talks about the multiple “reads” of the book’s wolf

At about 40:10 , Nicole reflects on the Nameless’ views of death and life and the 18 Utterances doctrines 

At about 41:30 , Nicole traces the origins of the book in her knowledge of and research into the Vietnam War

At about 47:00 , Nicole responds to Pete’s question about the “best” Vietnam War movies

At about 49:00 , Nicole reflects on the cult’s theology and its search for transcendence and beauty

At about 50:20 , Nicole talks about the similarities of cults’ beliefs and the human conditions connections to cults 

At about 53:00 , Pete and Nicole talk casting for a future big screen/small screen adaptation (fingers crossed!)

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    Please tune in for Episode 308 with Jeff Pearlman, the New York Times bestselling author of ten books. His subjects include the ’80s Los Angeles Lakers (Show­time), the 1986 New York Mets (The Bad Guys Won), the ’90s Dallas Cowboys (Boys Will Be Boys), and NFL legends Walter Pay­ton (Sweetness) and Brett Favre (Gunslinger). HBO adapted Showtime into the dramatic series Winning Time, produced and directed by Adam McKay. A former Sports Illus­trated senior writer and ESPN.com colum­nist, Pearlman is the host of the Two Writers Slinging Yang podcast. His latest is Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur.

   The episode drops on November 11.

   Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.