Fawn Parker moved to Fredericton from Toronto on a whim four years ago.
So far, it’s paid off.
The 30-year-old author has been chosen as the City’s next Poet Laureate.
“I thought it wouldn’t happen for me until I was 80,” she said from her home on the City’s south side.
“I was shocked.”
Growing up, Parker’s mom used to take her on trips to the Maritime provinces visiting coffee shops and wandering through bookstores.
So her decision to move here only made sense.
“I felt so drawn to the East,” Parker said.
“I live in a house with my partner and we plan to stay forever.”
The novelist got her start by making up stories she would share with her older sister through an intercom system at home. And as soon as she learned to write, Parker would jot down fictional stories based on animals or anecdotes from her own childhood experiences.
“I enjoyed telling stories and keeping people interested by making worlds for them.”
So she kept writing—and has since published five books.
Right now Parker is two years into her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of New Brunswick. She has taught literature and creative writing at the undergraduate level, and through arts festivals and residencies including the Banff Centre, an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta
The local writer was awarded the 2023 J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award and the 2023 Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize for her book of poetry, Soft Inheritance. In 2022 her novel, What We Both Know was nominated for a Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have been published in leading national publications including The Walrus and Hazlitt, an online magazine.
“The Poet Laureate position has always been about giving back to the community through writing,” said Angela Watson, Cultural Development Officer with the City of Fredericton. “We look forward to seeing Fawn’s creations and how she interconnects the two.”
Parker is also an advocate for emerging writers and working with fellow writers to collaborate on new ideas. She hosts a monthly reading series at Westminster Books called, The Catch-Up, for local and travelling writers to share published work or works in progress. During the 2023 Frye Festival in Moncton, she led an introductory writing workshop at the Miramichi Women’s Correctional Centre.
As Fredericton’s next Poet Laureate, her goal is to offer a voluntary writing workshop to patients in hospitals. She also plans to collect books and chapbooks written by local authors to distribute to hospitals, schools, and other locations where residents can learn more about local literature.
“As a writer it starts as a passion and a desire and if you’re lucky it becomes a job,” she said. “When people give you that time, it’s so generous, you have to give it back.”
The Poet Laureate will serve a two-year term and receive an honorarium of $5,000 each year.