American writer Thomas Savage was BOTD in 1915. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, his parents divorced when he was two, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather on a cattle ranch in Montana. He studied creative writing at the University of Montana, where he began publishing short stories. He met Elizabeth Fitzgerald in 1937, following her to Maine where they both studied at Colby College. They married in 1939, having three children together. In 1939, they returned to Savage’s stepfather’s ranch, an unhappy experience lasting only a year. He and Elizabeth returned to the East Coast, where he took up a series of teaching posts. He published his novel The Pass in 1944, the first of a trilogy about a dysfunctional Montanan ranch family, heavily informed by his upbringing. Their commercial success enabled him to write full-time and purchase a house in Maine, where the family lived for the next 30 years. Savage pursued a number of relationships with men throughout his marriage, with Elizabeth’s knowledge, identifying himself to his children later in life as gay. He and Elizabeth retired to Whidbey Island, living together until her death in 1989. His work was largely unknown until the 2000s, when his 1967 novel The Power of the Dog was republished, featuring an introduction by Annie Proulx. A terse melodrama about a closeted gay rancher who terrorises his sister-in-law and her effeminate teenaged son, it was based on Savage’s difficult relationship with his step-father. Savage died in 2003, aged 88. His reputation was posthumously boosted after Jane Campion’s 2021 film adaptation of The Power of the Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Savage’s themes of toxic masculinity and internalised homophobia resonated with post #MeToo audiences, and the film won numerous awards, including an Oscar for Campion’s direction.