Franke James’ Wins Gold Ippy Award for “Banned on the Hill”

Canadian’s non-fiction graphic book about dirty oil and Canada’s censorship wins Gold IPPY Award in New York

Franke James accepts Gold Book Award in New York City on May 28 2014

Franke James accepts Gold IPPY Award in New York City May 28 2014 Franke James accepts Gold IPPY Award in New York City May 28 2014 CE2_BannedontheHillcoverFranke James accepts Gold IPPY Award in New York City May 28 2014 Teresa_Franke_4611small

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 31, 2014 -– New York, NY, United States

Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship is the winner of a 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award.

Franke James’ true-life story of fighting back against the heavy-handed censorship of the Canadian Government was awarded the Gold Medal in the Canada-East Best Regional Non-Fiction category at the IPPY Awards Ceremony in New York City on May 28, 2014.

Author and Artist Franke James commented, “This Gold IPPY Award for Banned on the Hill is a sweet victory for me, for democracy, and for environmental voices everywhere. And it’s a blow against those high up in the Canadian government who are trying to silence and suppress environmental voices. It’s proof that censorship does not work — especially if you can wield a paint brush and leverage social media to gain supporters from around the world.

“I want to give a huge shout out to all the Indiegogo and Loudsauce supporters who joined my activist campaign and helped put my ‘banned art’ up on the streets of Ottawa (twice!), Halifax, Calgary and even Washington, DC! Together we are making a difference. We are shining a bright light on the censorship tactics of Orwellian Ottawa.”

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ABOUT The IPPY Awards: Honouring Publishers who “take chances and break new ground”


“Independent Publishers Tell Real Stories about Real People and Places”

(May 7, 2014 – Traverse City, MI) – After a long, cold winter, the announcement of the 18th annual Independent Publisher Book Awards has brought a spring-like gust of excellence to the publishing world.
Launched in 1996 and conducted each year to honor the year’s best independently published books, the “IPPY” Awards recognize merit in a broad range of subjects and reward authors and publishers who “take chances and break new ground.” Independent publishers, along with independent booksellers, have long held an important role in the world of books, offering an alternative to “the big five” conglomerated media publishers. Thanks to small presses, university presses, and self-publishing services that give experimental and entrepreneurial authors a platform, the IPPY universe is rapidly expanding — and that gives adventurous readers an abundance of new choices.
The medal-winning books will be celebrated on May 28th during the annual BookExpo America publishing convention in New York, with gold, silver and bronze IPPY medallions awarded in 78 national, 22 regional, and ten e-book categories. This year’s contest drew over 5,500 entries from authors and publishers in all 50 U.S. states, nine Canadian provinces, and 32 countries overseas.

ABOUT THE BOOK: ‘Banned on the Hill’ by Franke James

CE2_BannedontheHillcover What would you do if you discovered you were blacklisted by your own government for speaking up on climate change and the tar sands? In Banned on the Hill, artist and author Franke James, tells how she first discovered she was being censored by the Canadian government — and how she fought back. It’s an inspiring story that shows how creativity, crowd-funding and investigative digging can work together to shine a bright light on a government that is more interested in message control than a citizen’s democratic right to free expression. Through eight visual essays, James traces her personal journey as an active citizen discovering the power of speaking out. Interviewed in the Guardian UK newspaper James said that she hoped the book would serve as a how-to guide to other activists hoping to take on the Harper administration, especially with humour.

Through entertaining, powerful and humorous real-life storytelling, James show us how to speak the hard truths — and get heard. She shows us why actions speak louder than words and how each of us can make a difference in our front yards, our city, our country and our world.

MEDIA: Banned on the Hill debuted with an article in The Guardian UK by Suzanne Goldenberg…

“Artist finds inspiration in Canadian government’s attempt to silence her”. Suzanne Goldenberg wrote, “Visual essays by Franke James reveal how the ‘troublesome artist’ was targeted because her views on climate change clashed with the push to develop Alberta’s tar sands… But there is apparently one woman whom the government can’t shut up: the Toronto environmental writer, illustrator and activist Franke James, who turned the efforts to silence her into material for a new book. Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship, released this week, shows how Canadian bureaucrats tried to silence James because her views on climate change clashed with the Harper government’s push to develop Alberta’s tar sands. The story is told through visual essays as well as official emails obtained by James, in which government bureaucrats discuss the troublesome artist and her work.”

Read more media coverage…

Crowd-Funding Campaign Put Franke James’ Posters On the Streets of Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary and Washington, DC

The ‘Banned on the Hill’ Indiegogo campaign exceeded its fundraising goal by 257%, raising $12,869 USD. The funds were used to put Franke James’ “Do Not Talk About Climate Change” posters on the streets of Ottawa, Halifax and Calgary. The remaining funds contributed towards Franke’s Oh No Canada! show in Washington, DC.

James ominous art work “Do Not Talk about Climate Change. It is against government policy” was inspired by the Canadian government and James’ personal experience of being censored. The artwork shows the Canadian Parliament Buildings dropped into tar sands and features a telling quote from an internal government email:

“The artist’s work dealt mostly with climate change, and was advocating a message that was contrary to the government’s policies on the subject.” Jean-Bruno Villeneuve, Spokesperson, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

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Blacklisting Backgrounder

James’ 20-city European art show was cancelled as a direct result of behind-the-scenes government interference by high-level bureaucrats, including the Deputy Director of Climate Change, Jeremy Wallace, a Canadian Ambassador, Scott Heatherington, and a Senior Trade Commissioner in Berlin, Thomas Marr. According to the internal government documents, James was censored because her art was “advocating a message that was contrary to the government’s policies on climate change.”

The artist has vigorously and creatively fought back against the government’s interference and censorship calling it an infringement on her right to free expression. James used freedom of information laws to obtain 2,172 internal government documents concerning herself. In Banned on the Hill, the chapter, “Games Bureaucats Play” gives practical tips and insights for activists interested in applying for access to information.” Read more…

For more information:
Email: franke@frankejames.com
Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship
Published by The James Gang.

Buy Banned on the Hill at Amazon.com

Or the graphic ebook:
iPad, iTunes on Apple.com
Kindle Fire on Amazon.com
Android, Google Play

Glaxo Buys Open Science

Glaxo Buys Open Science. Patents Sharing. Promises Full Access. In a surprise move, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced a secret takeover of Open Science Federation for a purchase price rumored to be almost $500,000 USD. GSK CEO, Sir Andrew Witty, said that the takeover was part of a strategic response by the company to release all its clinical trial data. With questioning, Witty admitted that he, and the company’s board of directors, were initially resistant to the suggestion they should “open the kimono”, and show their jewels. However, with many voices calling for openness, and wincing from  a $3 billion USD fine for illegally promoting antidepressants to children, the company decided to look at the idea of openness more closely.“When we realized how little money there was in Open Science ... well, that was when the light went on.” Within the company, the Open Science take-over was pitched as the perfect, cost-effective, solution to their current woes. By buying the whole kit and caboodle, GSK could refurbish its image as a good corporate citizen, prop up its sagging stock price, and most importantly find a way to meet the public demands for the sharing of its data, without sharing anything at all. “Open Science is perfect for GSK. But we’re bringing something to the table too. Our patented Sharing Information Technology System (ShITs), will completely turn things upside down in the open science community.

Illustration for Dr. David Healy‘s post about the vagaries of diving, fishing and looking for real data in the murky world medicine and pharmaceuticals.

See: April Fool in Harlow: Anecdote Fishing in Harlow

And sure, this is an “April Fool’s” thing, but it’s actually based on some truth… If you want to find out more about the GSK approach to “Open Science” and the “sharing” of research data, you can actually sign up for the GSK Clinical Study data program. Once you’ve signed off off on their legal stuff (caveat emptor), you can request access to their trial data. Currently they have about 220 trials listed… a extremely small fraction of the total trials they’ve done. Your request will be reviewed by independent panel who will decide whether or not you can actually see the data. No promises of course! But why don’t you give it a try… I’ve signed up! 😉

See: https://clinicalstudydata.gsk.com/

Posters: OpenGSK.pdf, OpenGSK.jpg or OpenGSK.png.