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Celebrated author Robert Kroetsch dies in collision

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 06/22/2011 12:35 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 06/22/2011 1:29 PM | Updates

Celebrated Canadian author Robert Kroetsch died Tuesday in a vehicle collision while returning home from a reading in Canmore, Alta.

Born in Heisler, Alta. in 1927, the award-winning writer and former University of Manitoba professor was killed when the vehicle he was riding in collided with another near Drumheller, the University of Alberta Press website reported this morning.

Kroetsch’s body of work included 14 books of poetry, nine books of fiction, and seven books of non-fiction. He was awarded the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for his novel The Studhorse Man in 1969, and was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2004. Earlier this year Kroetsch received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award.

Kroetsch taught at the University of Manitoba from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s. He lived in Winnipeg much of the time in the years following his retirement, and had moved to Leduc, Alta. in 2009. He was 83 years old.

Longtime friend and Winnipeg author Dennis Cooley described Kroetsch as "probably the most esteemed post-modern writer in Canada." Cooley, who last spoke to Kroetsch a couple of weeks ago, said he had been writing actively up to the time of his death.

Kroetsch was an energetic public figure but private about his writing, said Cooley, an author whose work earned him scholarly acclaim, though not widespread popular interest.

"Part of the reason, I suspect, is that he never cultivated favour," said Cooley. "He never was a person who sought exposure or publicity."

History

Updated on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 1:29 PM CDT:
added comments from Dennis Cooley

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