A highly-respected, award winning novelist and poet, Robert’s was one of Alberta’s defining literary voices. He became a member of the NeWest family in 1982, helping to shape the direction the press would take in the years and decades to come by acting as board member and editor.

He was a teacher, mentor, and friend to many, and one of the country’s foremost thinkers on literary postmodernism. In 2004, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2011 he received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award.

We at NeWest had the great pleasure of knowing and working with Robert. His talent was like no other. He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Robert Kroetsch in the Canadian Encyclopedia 

Richard Helm's story on the accident that took Robert's life

Todd Babiak and Thomas Wharton reflect on the life and work of Robert Kroetsch

The silence of a winter night drums in from a drifted stubble-field. A car hums in the distance. A faint fall of snow lifts up the glare of headlights like beacons on the sky. An old man slips out once more to read the thermometer, once more to sweep the front steps.