Ross was born on a
homestead near
Shellbrook, Saskatchewan. When he was seven, his parents separated, and he lived with his mother on a number of different farms during his childhood, going to school in
Indian Head, Saskatchewan. He left school after Grade 11 and in 1924 he joined the
Union Bank of Canada, which became part of the
Royal Bank of Canada a year later. At first, he worked in a number of small towns in Saskatchewan, then moved to
Winnipeg,
Manitoba, in 1933 where he wrote and published his most famous novel
As For Me and My House. In 1946, he moved to
Montreal,
Quebec, after spending four years in the
Canadian Army during World War II. He remained with the Royal Bank until his retirement in 1968, after which he spent some time in Spain and Greece before moving to a nursing home in
Vancouver,
British Columbia, where he lived until his death.
As For Me and My House, set in an isolated town on the Prairies during the
Great Depression, was published in 1941. At first not much noticed, it went on to become a Canadian literary classic and set the precedent for the genre of Canadian prairie fiction. He wrote three more novels during his lifetime, as well as a few anthologies of short stories, none of which became as well known as his first novel. He is known to have destroyed manuscripts of novels that his publisher rejected, including a sequel to
Sawbones Memorial. His short story "The Painted Door" was adapted by
Atlantis Films as the short film
The Painted Door, which was an
Academy Award nominee for
Best Live Action Short Film at the
57th Academy Awards in 1985. A monument in his honour has been erected in Indian Head by Saskatchewan artists and readers, with a bronze statue sculpted by
Joe Fafard. In 1992, he was made a Member of the
Order of Canada. He died in 1996, having had
Parkinson's disease, and was buried in Indian Head. The year after his death his
homosexuality became public knowledge for the first time, as a result of
Keath Fraser's biography
As For Me and My Body: A Memoir of Sinclair Ross (1997). ==Bibliography==