St. John's Storytelling Festival: Elder Alex Saunders
Date: Oct 16
7:00 pm
- 8:00 pm
Where: Theatre
Storytelling Festival
Join us for an engaging storytelling session with Inuit Elder Alex Saunders, whose captivating storytelling is rooted in Inuit, Innu, and Labrador traditions. A Q&A will follow.
Tickets: $12 ( plus HST). Free for Rooms Members. Get your tickets online or by calling (709 )757-8090.
About the Speaker:
Alex Saunders, born in the original hamlet of Davis Inlet in 1940, is an Inuit Elder of mixed ancestry, with Innu and British Heritage. Though naturally gifted in storytelling, Alex only recently embraced his passion for writing. His work is dedicated to preserving the stories, traditions, and culture of the Inuit, while also offering insight into the adventurous spirit of Labrador’s Indigenous communities.
Alex was awarded the Lawrence Jackson Writers Award in 2017 for History of My Fishing Life. In 2016, he received the Northern Public Affairs Emerging Writers Award, and in 2020, he won the Percy Janes First Novel Award.
Events & Programs
Join us each day for an interpretive guided tour in one of our galleries. From the story of the Cod fishery to visiting a current art exhibition to a Family Rainbow tour, there is something for everyone.
Each tour is approximately 30 – 40 minutes and is included in the cost of admission. Free for Rooms members.
Fishing for Cod
For centuries, fishing for cod has played a vital role in the lives of the peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador. Generations of fishing men, women and children made use of the land and sea to sustain them and spent their lives “making fish”.
In Each Other’s Shoes
Learn how shoes are created, fashioned, and crafted for different environments by the people who thrive there. See how cultural identity is displayed through style, design, and decoration.
Join us each day for an interpretive guided tour in one of our galleries. From the story of the Cod fishery to visiting a current art exhibition to a Family Rainbow tour, there is something for everyone.
Each tour is approximately 30 – 40 minutes and is included in the cost of admission. Free for Rooms members.
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Please join us for a conversation with Sophie Angnatok, an Inuk throat singer and drum dancer from Nain, Nunatsiavut.
Sophie has been practicing the art of throat-singing and traditional Inuit drumming for 20 years and plays an active role within her local urban Inuit community.
Learn about her love of Inuit culture, the knowledge she shares in the community, her relationship with The Rooms, and her experiences in the Inuit drum dance group, Kilautiup Songuninga (Strength of the Drum).
Sophie performed for the Canadian Prime Minister during the Truth and Reconciliation apology for Labradorimut, the Governor General of Canada, and the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2024, she was the inaugural recipient of the Chris Brookes Memorial Award for “artists effecting positive change in the world”.
This is a free event but a ticket is required. Please reserve your free ticket online or by calling (709)757-8090.