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Franke James
ALLi Author Member
Location: Canada
Genres: Narrative Nonfiction, Memoir
Skills: Speaking Engagement/Lecture, Reading/Literary Event, Press/Media Interview
“Nobody really knows what life will throw at them. And how they’ll change as a result,” says Franke James. She is an activist, an artist and an author. She’s 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 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 two Gold Awards from The Human Relations Indie Book Awards for Family Challenges and Special Needs and two Silver Awards for Leadership and Inspirational. 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.
Franke James' books
Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship
Banned on the Hill: Winner, 2014 Gold IPPY Award and Foreword's Silver IndieFab Award.
"Banned on the Hill: It’s a tour de force" Dr. Tom Pedersen, Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions
Franke James: Winner, Liberty Award for Excellence in the Arts, BCCLA
Franke James received the 2014 Liberty Award for Excellence in the Arts, from the BC Civil Liberties Association. “Franke James is the recipient of this year’s Excellence in the Arts award. Franke has spent years producing original artwork inspired by social and environmental justice. Franke’s artwork and books span print, TV, radio, and online mediums in Canada, the USA, and many other parts of the world. Outspoken on environmental issues, her works have come into conflict with the federal government – leading to the cancellation of her 20-city European art exhibition because of government interference from high-level bureaucrats. Her experiences as an artist facing muzzling and censorship by the federal government led to the publishing of her third book, Banned on the Hill, which chronicles her experience with free expression through eight “visual essays”. Her focus on environmental and social justice, and her fight for free expression, are a few of the reasons she is this year’s recipient.” BC Civil Liberties Association
Bothered By My Green Conscience
[2009] You've changed all your light bulbs and switched to cloth bags at the grocery store. You recycle cans and bottles and you don't print out that e-mail unless you absolutely have to. What's next?
Using her signature style of lively drawings mixed with photos and hand drawn text, artist Franke James shows how we can meet the global warming challenge with imagination and creativity. Five vibrant, dynamic, full-color visual essays present refreshing and insightful ideas that make climate change personal:
My SUV and Me Say Goodbye -- Tackle global warming by doing the hardest thing first
Green Eccentric Glamour -- Whittle down your wardrobe, wear only your fabulous favorites
The Real Poop on Social Change -- Change bubbles up from the grassroots
Paradise Unpaved -- Fight city hall and get back to the garden
To My Future Grandkids in 2020 -- an environmental time capsule
Bothered by My Green Conscience is a must-read for anyone who is concerned about climate change and ready to take the next step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Fun, engaging, humorous and upbeat, this book is an ideal gift for anyone in your life who is seeking inspiration to create change.
Dear Office-Politics: the game everyone plays
[2009] Dear Office-Politics is the award-winning role-playing game that teaches you how to play (and laugh at) office politics. The game was invented by author and site founder, Franke James.
"James's splashy sense of humor and style catapults this book from the field of humdrum HR exercises to an entertaining discussion of the pantheon of office types." ForeWord Reviews
Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me
When an idealistic activist objects to her siblings’ plan to ship their disabled sister off to a nursing home, she’s forced to choose between family and her sister’s freedom.
Franke James immediately objected when she heard the plan to put her sister, Teresa Heartchild, into a nursing home. Teresa herself, who was born with Down syndrome, refused even to consider the idea. She wanted to stay with her father. But none of this mattered to the other siblings, who were acting as Teresa’s “guardians.” They insisted they had all the power and said Teresa had to be thrown into the government care system. And so, the siblings took Teresa from her father’s home and put her into a nursing home. Franke was horrified. She put a team together to help Teresa get discharged. That’s when all hell broke loose. And the two sisters had to stand together—against their siblings, the medical system, and the police—to defend Teresa’s right to be free.
The old institutions have closed, but today there are thousands of young people with disabilities who are forced to live in nursing homes. This is a key civil rights issue for all people with disabilities—the right to decide where you live.