Meet the Authors: Heidi Wicks and Angela Antle


Date: Sep 17
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Theatre

Join Breakwater Books to celebrate some of their renowned women-authored books! Featuring Heidi Wicks, author of the recently released short story collection Here, and Angela Antle, author of the debut novel The Saltbox Olive, this conversation, moderated by Trudy Morgan-Cole, will delve into their writing processes and the historic and cultural inspirations behind their work.

This is a free event, but a ticket is required. Please reserve your free ticket online or by calling (709) 757-8090.

Presented in partnership with Breakwater Books.

Books will be available for sale in The Rooms Giftshop on Level 1.

About the Authors:

Heidi Wicks has written for Riddle Fence, Newfoundland Quarterly, and The Globe and Mail. Her debut novel, Melt (2020), was featured in the Globe and Mail’s Hot Summer Reads list and received a silver medal IPPY (Independent Publisher) award. She also received the 2019 Cox and Palmer Creative Writing Award. She is featured in the short fiction collection Hard Ticket and the creative nonfiction collection Best Kind. She lives in her beloved hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Angela Antle is a writer, artist, and documentary maker based in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Antle’s writing has appeared in Riddle Fence, Newfoundland Quarterly, and CBC.ca. She wrote and directed Gander’s Ripple Effect: How a Small Town’s Kindness Opened on Broadway, and wrote the feature-length Irish-Norwegian-Canadian documentary Atlantic: What Lies Beneath. Narrated by Brendan Gleeson, it was the winner of best documentary awards at the Dublin, Wexford, Nickel, and Chagrin Film Festivals. As a journalist, Angela has rowed a dory through the Narrows, covered the subculture of Florida’s Spring Break, taken bumpy komatik rides on the coast of Labrador, hitchhiked from France to Newfoundland on a fishing boat, interviewed a Prime Minister on Broadway, and recorded Ron Hynes singing “Sonny’s Dream” in Ireland. She is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate at Memorial University, a member of Norway’s Empowered Futures Energy School, and was recently named the 2025 Rachel Carson Writer in Residence at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Events & Programs

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Workshop

Spooky season is right around the corner, but not long ago, people tried to protect their homes from evil spirits all year round! Join us for an afternoon of magical house protection, exploring the objects, symbols, and practices that people used across Europe and North America to keep themselves safe.

What to expect:

  • A talk on magical house protection through the years
  • A visit to Level 4 Museum Gallery to see some of the objects in The Rooms collections
  • Learn basic embroidery stitches to create your very own protective symbol

Cost: $40 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms members. Includes all materials. Register online!

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Program

Come in your costume or as you are and enjoy Halloween at The Rooms! Get your spook on with some of our fang-tastic activities. Make a spider crown or a friendly ghost at one of our craft stations.

We’ve been told the friendly ghosts are back in the building. Can you find them? How many can you count? Enter your answer for the chance to win a prize! The friendly ghosts will be hanging around until October 31.

This program is included with admission (free for Rooms members).

No registration is required; just check in at the front desk and drop in anytime between 1 — 4 pm!

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Tour

Peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador

Stroll across land and sea, and through time, to meet the peoples who have made Newfoundland and Labrador home for the past 9,000 years.

Each tour is approximately 30 – 40 minutes and is included in the cost of admission. Free for Rooms members.