On Saturday night, one of Binghamton University’s faculty members held a celebration for the release of a her newest fiction novel.
Jaimee Wriston Colbert, an associate professor, wrote “Shark Girls,” which was published in November. She had previously written three award-winning novels.
This event, hosted at RiverRead Books on Court Street in Downtown Binghamton, featured a reading of the novel by Colbert and a question-and-answer session.
Connie Barnes, coordinator of the event for RiverRead Books believed it went very well despite poor weather.
“Jaimee has been with us before. She read as part of an event and asked us to help out with her book release,” Barnes said. “She spent a lot of time researching this book and that’s what I liked about it. It is a very inventive novel, very funny but at the same time very sad, a very compassionate look at character.”
According to Colbert the novel was the accumulation of more than five years of research. Colbert is a native of Kailua, Hawaii, and said her novel was inspired by her native roots.
“Growing up, I was in the ocean all the time,” Colbert said. “When you grow up on an island, a tropical island, your whole life is influenced by the ocean.”
Colbert added that the basis of the novel is inspired from a real-life shark attack in 1952. The aftermath of the attack lead to the death of over 690 sharks, which was controversial because in Hawaiian mythology, sharks were seen as gods.
“Things that you experience as a child become influential as a writer,” Colbert said.
The novel is told from two different perspectives, that of the older sister of a shark-attack victim, similar to the 1952 attack, and that of a scarred young woman seeking the same victim, who she believes to have mystical powers that could cure her.
Working with the two story lines was challenging but rewarding, Colbert said.
“Sharks were a child’s boogeyman … but when I ended up doing research for the book, I gained a lot of respect for them.” she said. “Sharks are very intelligent creatures. Humans don’t give them enough credit.”
Colbert’s experience as a creative writing teacher at BU helped inspire her writing.
“The wonderful thing about being a creative writing professor is that you are always in touch with the field,” Colbert said. “Talking about it keeps it present in your mind.”
Colbert believes that the book itself will be interesting to undergraduates on campus, as it features a number of younger characters and the Hawaiian setting will be exotic to students used to braving the Binghamton cold.
Samantha Tuchfeld, a former student of Colbert’s who attended the signing on Saturday, claimed the experience was worthwhile.
“Hearing her read is kind of like watching a movie,” Tuchfeld said. “I think her characters are real. There is a living, breathing character in the way that she cultivates words.”
“Shark Girls” is already in bookstores and can be acquired through RiverRead, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and the University bookstore in the New University Union.