The City of Edmonton has renamed its annual book prize after the late author and poet Robert Kroetsch, who died in a traffic accident in June at age 83.

Kroetsch, who won the 1969 Governor General’s Literary Award for his Edmonton-set novel The Studhorse Man, was closely associated with the city’s literary scene. The Edmonton Journal reports:

“It’s a way to keep alive a legacy. By naming an award like this, we want to recognize that legacy,” John Mahon, executive director of the Edmonton Arts Council, told city council.

The annual Edmonton book prize, created in 2004 and awarded in April at the Mayor’s Luncheon for Business and the Arts, pays the winner $10,000.

Its new name will be the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize.