Robert Kroetsch killed in highway crash
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
EDMONTON – Acclaimed Canadian author Robert Kroetsch was killed in a car accident Tuesday night while returning from a literary festival in Canmore.
Kroetsch, 84, was born and raised in Heisler, in central Alberta, and during a long and distinguished literary career published 14 books of poetry, seven books of non-fiction and nine books of fiction. His third novel, The Studhorse Man, that won him the Governor General’s Award for Fiction in 1969. He was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004.
Kroetsch was returning to his home in Leduc from the Artspeak Festival in Canmore Tuesday when the two-car collision occurred near Drumheller on Highway 21. Three other people were hospitalized, according to Cathie Crooks, marketing manager for University of Alberta Press, Kroetsch’s publisher.
Kroetsch was recently recognized with a lieutenant-governor’s Alberta Distinguished Artist award and, just two weeks ago, with a Golden Pen Award from the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
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