Book Launch: Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine

Join us for the launch of Lech Blaine's Australian Gospel. Lech will be joined in conversation by his siblings: Steven Blaine, John Blaine, Hannah Blaine and ABC journalist Ellen Fanning. 

Australian Gospel is a gripping true story about the tangled fates of two couples and the foster children trapped between them. Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics. Three of their children – Steven, John and Hannah – were placed into foster care with Lenore and Tom Blaine. The Blaines were working-class publicans in country Queensland. In 1992, Lenore Blaine gave birth to a miracle baby named Lech. Australian Gospel is the book that Lech was born to write: a love letter to his colourful parents and foster siblings. Today, Steven is an accountant in Perth. John is a car salesman in Bundaberg. Hannah is a neuropsychologist in Alice Springs. Lech is an author and essayist based in Sydney.

Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. He is the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence. His writing has appeared in Good Weekend, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Monthly.