A biography of David Milne, one of Canada’s finest artists, was honoured last night. Hamilton author James King was awarded the 23rd Annual Hamilton Arts Council Literary Award for Non-Fiction for Inner Places: The Life of David Milne.

Inner Places opens a window on modernist painter David Milne’s constant spirit, his struggles to survive, and the many personal and professional lives of this Canadian original. In a precarious and roving life, Milne captured the texture of every place he lived in a different kind of landscape painting. The Ontario Historical Society praised the book, “Clearly and crisply written, and lavishly illustrated with colour plates of Milne’s work as well as his personal black and white photographs, this biography is an effective tribute to an artist who contributed greatly to the modernist art scene in Canada.”

James King is a noted biographer, whose subjects include Margaret Laurence, Jack McClelland, Farley Mowat, and Lawren Harris. His biography of Herbert Read, The Last Modern, was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, James King lives in Hamilton.

The Hamilton Literary Awards are an annual literary event with the goal of recognizing and celebrating the best of Hamilton’s published authors. The awards are presented to books of outstanding merit and quality in three categories including Fiction, Poetry and Non-fiction by authors residing in Hamilton and the surrounding areas. The winners was announced on December 7, 2016 at an awards ceremony at the Norman and Louise Haac Studio Theatre.