Georgia Blain, author of Births Deaths Marriages, and her mother Anne Deveson, who penned Tell Me I’m Here, have passed away within days of each other.
Georgia was diagnosed with brain cancer at the end of last year and had been recording her life with illness in a column in the Saturday Paper called ‘The Unwelcome Guest’.
Her most recent book, Between a Wolf and a Dog, features a character whose cancer has spread to her brain; the character was written before Georgia’s diagnosis. The novel was published to critical acclaim and last month was the recipient of the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction. Georgia was also one of three authors shortlisted for the Copyright Agency’s $80,000 Author Fellowship. Her entry was for ‘a memoir that is a lament at the loss of language and a love song to words and language.’
Georgia had been the carer of her mother, Anne, who had developed Alzheimer’s, a disease which killed her mother, grandmother and aunty. The renowned journalist wrote Tell Me I’m Here, a heartbreaking account of her son’s struggle with schizophrenia. She helped to found the Schizophrenia Australia Foundation (later renamed SANE Australia) and spent much of her life advocating for social issues and mental health.
Both mother and daughter were selected by the Australian Society of Authors to have their books represented in the Reading Australia 200 List. They are celebrated Australian writers, well loved by their families, friends and the writing community.