Frank Schaeffer

Author • 4 books

Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books. Frank is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood, an acclaimed writer who overcame severe dyslexia, a homeschooled and self-taught documentary movie director, and a feature film director of four low-budget Hollywood features that he describes as “pretty terrible.” He is also an artist with a loyal following of collectors who own many of his oil paintings. He has spoken at dozens of major universities, libraries, and museums from the Hammer in LA to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Frank’s three semiautobiographical novels about growing up in a fundamentalist mission, Portofino, Zermatt, and Saving Grandma, have been translated into nine languages. His video blogs posted on Facebook have had millions of views.

Frank is a guest commentator on MSNBC with Joy Reid and has been frequently interviewed by Rachel Maddow. He has also been interviewed on almost every major TV news show from Oprah to the Today show to 20/20. His memoir Crazy for God is used as a textbook in the history of religion classes and courses in comparative religion and sociology in public and private universities. In her extended NPR interview with Frank about his memoir Crazy for God, Terry Gross called it out as a very important book. Frank’s book Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story about Love and the United States Marine Corps was a New York Times bestseller and was described by the commandant of the Marine Corps as a new “Marine family Bible.” Frank is a progressive activist who has actively campaigned for liberal political candidates