Member Profile

Sheilah has been a store clerk, a Bollywood movie extra, an art school model, a chambermaid, a barmaid/tender, riding instructor, a theatre arts administrator, a library assistant, and a teacher of various subjects, primarily, music and English. Generally, fearless. Loves History, horses and dogs, good food and great stories. She published For Maids Who Brew and Bake, in 2003 and then released a second edition in 2010. This book is a historical look at 17th century Newfoundland. With excerpts from old English manuscripts and Newfoundland letters, descriptions of 17th century towns, recipes, and old cures, this book paints a vivid picture of how Newfoundland’s earliest settlers might have lived. In 2004, “Maids” was one of five books from across the country nominated in the special interest category of Cuisine Canada’s National Culinary Book Awards. Her second book, Rain, Drizzle, and Fog, was launched in October 2014. This book is a historical look at the weather in Newfoundland and Labrador, the good, the bad, and the ugly, with early diary entries, newspaper reports/interviews and archival photographs. Sheilah's children's books include Full Speed Ahead: Errol's Bell Island Adventure, released in Fall 2016, and winner of the 2018 Newfoundland and Labrador Bruneau Family Children/Young Adult Book Award sponsored by the Writer's Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador;  Flying Ace: Errol's Gander Adventure, long listed for the Bruneau Family award; Once upon an Iceberg: Errol's Twillingate Adventure, published in 2021  Sheilah's most recent non-fiction book was published in October 2020: Bottom's up: A History of Alcohol in Newfoundland and Labrador. To date, Sheilah has published three non-fiction books and three children's books. For more details see Sheilah's website: sheilahroberts.com