On Tuesday, July 8th, 2025, the City of Fredericton and the City’s Poet Laureate, Fawn Parker, unveiled a new “Little Free Poetry Library” in the Fredericton Botanic Garden.
The Poetry Library is situated next to the NB Literature Garden, a project completed by Fredericton’s first Poet Laureate, Ian LeTourneau. The Little Library is designed to look like the house that formerly belonged to Bliss Carmen in downtown Fredericton.
Carmen was often lauded as Canada’s Poet Laureate during his life. Fawn Parker chose Bliss Carmen’s house a model because of his prolific career and because of a personal connection she feels to the writer, who was one of the first poets from New Brunswick she began reading after moving to the province.
Fawn explained that the purpose of the library is to provide wider access to poetry and literature in Fredericton, and to foster the city’s existing community of poets. Mayor Kate Rogers echoed that sentiment and emphasized the deliberate placement of the Little Library on a busy walking path in the center of the Botanic Garden to encourage frequent visits.
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