The Ledger is a foundational book-length poem in the Field Notes series that Canada's top literary bullshitter has now declared Completed. Be that as it may, The Ledger has been in continuous demand since its first publication in 1972. This documentary long poem about pioneering in Bruce County, Ontario makes the debit-credit form of accounting into a force-field that holds the pros and cons of settling a new country. If you begin these pages wondering what makes them poetry, feel free to shuck the term. Robert Kroetsch's poetry generously offers a reader enough space to become a writer. Go ahead and read yourself in.

Robert Kroetsch was a teacher, editor and award-winning writer. Born in Heisler, Alberta, in 1927, Kroetsch grew up on his parents' farm and studied at the University of Alberta and the University of Iowa. He taught at the State University of New York, Binghamton, until the late 1970s and then returned to Canada, where he taught at the University of Calgary and the University of Manitoba from the 1970s through the 1990s. Kroetsch also spent time at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts and many writer-in-residencies, where he powerfully influenced recent writing on the Canadian prairies and elsewhere. His generosity of spirit and openness to the new showed many authors new ways to pursue their own kinds of writing. In honour of both his writing and his contributions to Canadian culture in general, Kroetsch was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004. In 2011 he received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award. Robert Kroetsch died in a car accident outside of Edmonton, Alberta, in 2011.

Robert Kroetsch's profile page

• Commended, Alcuin citation for design