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| First Name | Franke |
| Last Name | James |
| Member Since | February 2, 2024 |
| City | Vancouver |
| State | BC |
| Country | Canada |
| Company | The James Gang, Iconoclasts Inc. |
| Pen Name | Franke James |
| Branch Affiliation | BC |
| Website | https://www.frankejames.com/ |
| https://www.instagram.com/franke.james/ | |
| Bio | “Nobody really knows what life will throw at them. And how they’ll change as a result,” says Franke James, who is an activist, artist and author with a rare disability called Ataxia (since 2019). Franke has fought City Hall to build a green driveway (and won). Been blacklisted by the Canadian Government for her climate change art—and turned the government’s silencing into international news. Her latest book, Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me, is about choosing her sister’s freedom over her family. Franke helped her younger sister with Down syndrome get out of a nursing home. Then all hell broke loose. The two sisters had to stand together—against their siblings, the medical system, and the police—to defend the right to be free. Franke and her husband, Billiam James, helped Teresa regain her decision-making rights and get a public apology from the Ontario Minister of Health. Midwest Book Review said, "The result is more than a memoir: it’s a testimony to how ‘tickets to freedom’ are gained through fighting and love." The memoir has won eighteen book awards, including the Outstanding True Story Award in the IAN Book of the Year Awards 2024, the Nonfiction Audiobook Award and the Social/Political Award in the 2024 NYC Big Book Awards, and multiple awards in the Human Relations Indie Book Awards. The International Firebird Book Awards gave it the Judge's Pick prize and four awards for Social/Political Change, Special Needs, Leadership, and Inspiration. In 2015, Franke won PEN Canada’s Ken Filkow Prize for her “tenacity in uncovering an abuse of power” and BCCLA’s Liberty Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2014. For Franke, the diverse issues in her books, "Freeing Teresa," "Banned on the Hill," "Bothered by My Green Conscience," and "Dear Office-Politics" are all connected by the need to speak up and take action. Franke lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband and her sister, Teresa. |
| Publications | Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me Indie Publisher: The James Gang (2023) ISBN-13: 978-1999406103 Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship Indie Publisher: The James Gang (2013) ISBN-13: 978-0991696109 Dear Office-Politics: the game everyone plays Indie Publisher: Nerdheaven Ltd. Printer - Booksurge (2009) ISBN-13: 978-1439230541 Bothered By My Green Conscience Publisher: New Society Publishers (2009) ISBN-13: 978-0865716469 |
| Other Memberships | The Writers Union of Canada https://writersunion.ca/member/franke-james |
| Awards | 2015 PEN Canada / Ken Filkow Prize https://pencanada.ca/news/franke-james-pen-canadaken-filkow-prize/ 2014 BC Civil Liberties Association: Liberty Award for Excellence in the Arts https://bccla.org/2015/11/art-for-a-cause/ |
| Contests | |
| Genres | Childrens Books, Educational, Parenting, Sports & Outdoor |
| Available For | Readings, Presentations, Workshops, Book Club Meetings, Speaking Engagements |
| Services Offered | Storytelling |