“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. She has 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 Nonfiction Audiobook Award and the Social/Political Award in the 2024 NYC Big Book Awards, the Outstanding True Story Award in the IAN Book of the Year Awards 2024, 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.
PRAISE FOR FREEING TERESA
“Gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring. This story will break your heart and then fill it up again.”
CATHERINE McKERCHER, author of Shut Away
“A gripping story about courage, love, and an unshakeable belief in human potential.”
MARTY SELDMAN, Ph.D. author of Survival of the Savvy
“A courageous, personal account of fighting the system—and family— to free Teresa from forced care.”
ALANNA HENDREN, Executive Director Developmental Disabilities Association
"The result is more than a memoir: it's a testimony to how 'tickets to freedom' are gained through fighting and love, displaying how Teresa's own wishes and interests add fuel to the fire of empowerment on many different levels." D. DONOVAN, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
WINNER OF EIGHTEEN BOOK AWARDS: FREEING TERESA
NYC Big Book Awards (2024)
• Audiobook Nonfiction, Winner
• Social/Political Change, Winner
IAN Book of the Year Awards (2024)
• Nonfiction, “Outstanding True Story” Winner
Pinnacle Book Achievement Award (Q3 2024)
• Inspiration, Winner
Literary Titan (Q4 2024)
• Nonfiction, Gold
International Firebird Book Awards (Q2 2024)
• Judge’s Pick
• Social/Political Change, 1st place
• Special Needs, 1st place
• Leadership, 2nd place
• Inspiration, 2nd place
Human Relations Indie Book Awards (2024)
• Family Challenges, Gold Award
• Special Needs, Gold Award
• Leadership, Silver Award
• Inspirational, Silver Award
eLit Awards (2024)
• Audiobook, Autobiography/Biography, Silver
The Bookfest (Q4 2024)
• Audiobook, Artistic & Technical, Silver Award
• Memoir, Silver Award
• Human Rights & Political Movements, Silver Award
FRANKE JAMES' OTHER BOOKS:
"BANNED ON THE HILL" (2013)
“Franke James isn’t afraid to take on anyone, from the Harper government to big corporations. When my co-editor, Kim Blank, and I decided to edit a book of cultural readings for university students, we knew we wanted James and Rachel Carson to anchor the conclusion on the environment.”
STEPHEN EATON HUME, Author of Economics Writing
"DEAR OFFICE-POLITICS " (2009)
"James's splashy sense of humour and style catapults this book from the field of humdrum human resources exercises to an entertaining discussion of the pantheon of office types... Winner of an Axiom Business Book Award for 2010, Dear Office-Politics is recommended for team-building meetings and pleasure reading."
FOREWORD REVIEWS
"BOTHERED BY MY GREEN CONSCIENCE" (2009)
"Franke James uses right-brain thinking and a unique visual style to green her future, and ours... Fantastic!"
DANIEL H. PINK, Author of "A Whole New Mind"
Franke James is co-founder of The James Gang Iconoclasts and a member of the Canadian Authors Association and the Writers’ Union of Canada. She has delivered keynotes, speeches, and workshops in Canada and the USA. She has a Master's in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria and a BFA from Mount Allison University. She lives in Vancouver, BC, where her favourite mode of transportation is walking.
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