JWU Professor Tamara Valentine Releases Her Debut Novel

“Really, a first person narrator that doesn’t speak? Good luck!” That’s what one agent said to native Rhode Islander and Johnson & Wales professor Tamara Valentine while she was writing What the Waves Know. After starting the novel eight years ago and subsequently locking it in a drawer because “it wouldn’t behave,” Tamara was haunted by the story and dove back into it, producing this breathtaking piece that explores the concept of “what to do if you’re afraid of your voice.”

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I was born a writer; I really believe it. I’ve had a pencil in my hand as long as I can remember. I was that kid that would disappear into the woods for hours [to write]. Even when I wasn’t writing, I was daydreaming, and constantly building stories in my head. I didn’t know that I would ever be successful at it, but I knew that I’d always be writing, even if I weren’t a writer.

What inspired What the Waves Know?
When I first graduated undergrad, I worked with young autistic adults. There was one boy that everyone suspected was not on the spectrum. He never spoke. Every time he’d almost speak, he would take his pointer finger and bite it, like he was waiting to calm back down so he wouldn’t speak, and it always haunted me. I’ve never forgotten him. A lot of people suspected he had trauma in his life before he stopped speaking, and it was sort of just always sitting there. That was probably [where the idea] of what to do if you’re afraid of your voice [originated from].

You’ve written such strong female characters. Do you have strong female influences?
I get discouraged by pieces that [feature] damsels in distress. The writers that I admire are immensely strong women that write strong characters. Margaret Atwood, Isabella Yende and Julia Alvarez, who I just adore, write these amazing, complicated female characters.

How did you come up with the idea for the setting, Tillings Island?
When I first started writing, I remember standing on the cliffs on Block Island, and looking at this white house, starting to fill in the characters that might live there. That is how this piece started, not with the characters, but with the place. I worked backwards, filling in the slots as I went. I kept a picture of that house up in front of me when I started writing.

What the Waves Know will be on bookshelves on February 9. Tamara Valentine will be doing a reading and Q&A at The Artists Cooperative Gallery of Westerly on February 16 – 7 Canal Street. 596-2221, WesterlyArts.com – and at Books on the Square, February 19. 471 Angell Street. 331-9097, booksq.com