Called “the most trusted stranger in America,” Frank Warren is the sole founder and curator of the PostSecret Project: A collection of nearly 200,000 highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice, and the creator of the phenomenally successful, New York Times best-selling PostSecret books: PostSecret, The Secret Lives of Men and Women, My Secret, and now, A Lifetime of Secrets.
The deeply devoted and ever-increasing following of the PostSecret books and Web site has made Warren one of the most sought after public speakers. He travels across the country, speaking at universities, museums, conferences, and art galleries about the PostSecret Project. He gives a moving presentation about how he became an “accidental artist” and the power of secrets. His award-winning program is a multimedia presentation in which he shares many of the secrets that were kept out of the books.
In 2007, Warren’s PostSecret Web site (which receives more than 1,000,000 visitors every week) was awarded three weblog awards including “Blog of the Year,” and “Best Community Blog.” PostSecret was also awarded the Webby Award for best NetArt. The National Mental Health Association presented PostSecret with an award for Outstanding Contribution in raising public awareness about issues of mental health and suicide. His traveling exhibition of PostSecret cards was called by the Washington Post, “One of the five best art shows in 2005.”
Each of his books, through never-before-seen, anonymously submitted postcards, has brought the PostSecret phenomenon to a new level, and a broader audience. PostSecret introduced readers to the liberation and catharsis of sharing secrets. My Secret presented a fascinating glimpse inside the secret world of teens and college students. The Secret Lives of Men and Women revealed the shocking, inspirational, and at times hilarious, confessions of men and women everywhere. A Lifetime of Secrets is the richest book yet. Warren showcases the project’s most profound and stunning postcards, revealing secrets that have haunted their creators for a lifetime.
Warren has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, 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 all-around 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 Warren instead 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. The National Mental Health Association presented Warren with an award for his work in raising public awareness of Suicide. The PostSecret project has now raised over $200,000 for 1(800)SUICIDE.
Warren continues to receive between 100 and 200 postcards everyday, and he updates his Web site every Sunday. He continues to call himself an “accidental artist” because he does not have an artistic 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 was born in Arizona and went to high school in Illinois. He later graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in the Social Sciences and moved to the Washington D.C. area to start a business. Fifteen years later, Instant Information Systems, his small business, takes up less of his time as he devotes more time and energy on the project that thrust him into the public eye.
Warren lives in Germantown, Maryland with his wife and daughter.
Praise for Frank Warren’s Talks and PostSecret Books:
“As an artist, Frank is a visionary. As a performer, he is professional and engaging. As a human being, Frank is a humanitarian and a gentle soul who will connect with any audience.”
– Naomi Johnson, Event Planner, Old Town Theater
“Your presentation was heartfelt and eye-opening.”
– Cleo Wilson Executive Director, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
“I believe that there are so many people who have the potential to be touched by you. And when they meet you, I think they are even more amazed by the way you speak so kindly, tell stories as if you had all the time in the world for them, and listen to them as if they were your own child. I hope that other colleges and communities will be able to benefit from your presence with them, and that you are able to spread your project to every town you possibly can.”
– Amie Hack, Graduate Assistant, The College of William & Mary
“Standing in the midst of all this naked shame and guilt and anger and, yes, hope, you’re suddenly not so alone.”
—WashingtonPost
“They [the postcards] are mini-works of art. Some are heartbreaking, some are hilarious, some are touching or thought-provoking or shocking or silly or repulsive. All of them are riveting … PostSecret seems to prove three (at least) things: Lots of ordinary Americans are artistic, lots of them are poetic, and lots of them have something to hide.”
—USA Today
“When it comes to disposable culture, there may be no medium more negligible than the postcard. Yet in PostSecret, Frank Warren gives the postcard unexpected lucency by reproducing hundreds of cards from an ongoing public art project … Warren selects the most heartfelt and connective messages (some funny, some tragic, some utterly transcendent) and reproduces them in full color, as autonomous works of popular art.”
—Los Angeles Times