the PostSecret backgrounder

PRESS ROOM
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To arrange an interview with Frank Warren or to obtain a review copy of one of the
PostSecret anthologies, please contact [email protected].
HOW IT STARTED
The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary.
"You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a
regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything -- as long as it
is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative."
It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out
postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places in November 2004 -- asking people to
write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously.
The response was overwhelming. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and the cards
themselves were works of art -- carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Addictively compelling,
the cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions. Warren calls them "graphic
haiku," beautiful, elegant, and small in structure but powerfully emotional.
As Warren began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming
much more than a simple art project. It has grown into a global
phenomenon, exposing our individual aspirations, fantasies,
and frailties -- our common humanity.
Every day dozens of postcards with intimate secrets still make
their way to Warren, with postmarks from around the world,
touching on every aspect of human experience.
HOW IT WORKS
Create a 4-by-6-inch postcard and draw, paint, or cut and paste
whatever you desire to reveal your secret. Then anonymously
mail to it to Frank Warren, the artist behind the project, at his
home address (13345 Copper Ridge Road, Germantown, MD
20874). Every Sunday, he selects ten postcards to publish on
his blog for the world to see.
THE MAN BEHIND THE SECRETS
Frank Warren, “the most trusted tranger in America,” is
the sole founder and curator of the PostSecret Project:
A collection of over 300,000 highly personal and artfully
decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the
world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice.
Warren’s first book, PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions
from Ordinary Lives (ReganBooks) is a New York Times best
seller. He followed it up with My Secret: A PostSecret Book
and The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret
Book. In 2006, his PostSecret website (which receives over 3,000,000 visitors every month) was
awarded six weblog awards including “Best American Blog” and “Blog of the Year.” His traveling
exhibition of PostSecret cards was called by the Washington Post, “One of the five best art shows
in 2005”.
Warren was born in Arizona and went to high school in Illinois. He later graduated from UC Berkeley
with a degree in social science and moved to the Washington, DC area to start a business. Fifteen
years later, he no longer owns his document delivery firm,
Instant Information Systems, as his sole focus is on the
project that thrust him into the public eye, PostSecret.
Warren has appeared on the Today Show, 20/20, CNN,
MSNBC, CBC, NPR, and Fox News. USA Today called
Warren, “An award-winning blogger, a first-time author,
an artist with a traveling exhibit, a possible documentary
subject, the inspiration for a music video and the allaround media ‘it’ boy of the moment.”
In 2005, The All American Rejects approached Warren about using images of actual PostSecret
images in their Dirty Little Secret music video. They offered Warren $1,000 but instead he asked
them to donate $2,000 to 1(800)SUICIDE where Warren is a volunteer. The donation was made
and the music video became one of the most requested on MTV.
Warren continues to receive between 100 and 200 postcards everyday. He updates his website
on Sundays and is working to produce four more PostSecret books. Warren, his wife and 11 yearold daughter call Germantown, Maryland home. He continues to call himself an “accidental artist”
because he has no artist background or training. “I have been asked many times why I started this.
It still feels to me as though this project found me. All I try to do is make the right decisions every
day to protect the integrity of the project – and learn to trust the journey.
Warren lives in Germantown, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.
PRESS ROOM
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PUBLISHED WORKS
PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
by Frank Warren. Published by William Moorow, 2005.
My Secret: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren. Published
by William Morrow, 2006.
The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book by
Frank Warren. Published by William Morrow, 2007.
A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren.
Published by William Morrow, 2007.
POSTSECRET LIVE
The award-winning PostSecret Events give Warren a chance to share videos, secrets that were
banned from his books, the extraordinary stories behind some of the most shocking secrets he
received and some surprises. And before the book signing at the end audience members are
always invited to stand and share their deepest secrets with an audience of strangers.
Warren has hosted live PostSecret Events at dozens of conferences, universities and museums
around the world. He was a keynote speaker at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference,
and at PopTech.
For a complete schedule of PostSecret Events, please visit http://www.postsecretcommunity.com/
postsecret-events.
POSTSECRET ART
In late 2007, PostSecret launched a three-year international
traveling museum exhibition starting at the Winnipeg Art
Gallery. An installation by the Washington Project for the
Arts/ Corcoran of PostSecret was called by the Washington
Post, “One of the five best art shows in 2005.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Warren has worked tirelessly as a volunteer and advocate for
HopeLine, a suicide-prevention organization, and believes that by sharing our deepest secrets, we
are able to heal ourselves and serve our communities. In 2006, Warren was presented a special
award from the National Mental Health Association in recognition of
how PostSecret has “moved the cause of mental health forward.”
In 2008, PostSecret helped raise over $500,000 for the National
Suicide Prevention Hotline 1(800)SUICIDE.
PRESS ROOM
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POSTSECRET BY THE NUMBERS
Since the project began in November 2004, Frank
Warren has been mailed more than 300,000 secrets.
He continues to receive about 1,000 handmade 4” by
6” postcards every week.
Warren is #11 on the 2008 Forbes list of the 25
biggest, brightest, and most influential people on the
Internet.
Over 1,000,000 people visit the PostSecret Blog every
week making it the largest advertisement-free blog in the world.
PostSecret won four Weblog Awards (“Bloggies”) in 2008, including Best Blog and Best Net Art.
(Only the New York Times and National Geographic won more awards.)
Warren’s first book, PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives, is a Los Angeles
Times bestseller with over quarter million copies in print.
My Secret, Warren’s second book features the secrets of young people, reached #13 on the New
York Times bestseller list (nonfiction) and was selected by the editors at Amazon as a “Top Book
of 2006”.
Warren’s third book The Secret Lives of Men and Women reached #11 on the New York Times
bestseller list.
A Lifetime of Secrets, Warren’s fourth book in the PostSecret series, has climbed the rankings
more quickly than any other book reaching #7 on the New York Times bestseller list.
One mailbox has been worn out by postcard deliveries.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“A fascinating public airing of private thoughts. . . The range of efforts (meticulous, sloppy, artful,
ponderous) will astound you.” - TIME.com, “50 Coolest Websites of 2005”
“Frank Warren gives the postcard unexpected lucency by reproducing hundreds of cards from an
ongoing public art project … .” - Los Angeles Times
“Humanity at its finest . . . And because of it I am falling in love with the world again.” - A contributor
on Postsecret.com
“Standing in the midst of all this naked shame, guilt, anger and, yes,
hope, you’re suddenly not so alone.” - Washington Post
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