CORVALLIS, Ore. - Everyone has a secret. But not everyone realizes how liberating it can be to share that secret, especially with a perfect stranger.

Author Frank Warren has created an industry on telling those secrets to the world, and now he will share his own secrets of success on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at Oregon State University. His presentation, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at LaSells Stewart Center, is free and open to the public, though tickets are required for entry.

Tickets are available to OSU students, faculty and staff starting Feb. 2 at the Student Leadership & Involvement desk (MU East 149). If there are tickets remaining, they will be available to the public starting Feb. 9 via [email protected].

Warren is the creator of the blog, "PostSecret Project," which is a collection of beautiful, funny and sometimes disturbingly sad postcards sent anonymously to him from around the world. Each postcard - many of which are hand-decorated - tells a personal secret that the senders just want to get off their chest.

The postcards on Warren's site range from silly - "I like to go to home improvement stores and pretend I'm planning my house," - to deadly serious. Wrote one sender: "My suicide attempt was secret. I do wish someone knew so that we could celebrate the fact that I'm still alive."

PostSecret originated from a community art project based on a simple concept: asking people to anonymously send a secret on a decorated postcard. Since November 2004, Warren has received more than 400,000 postcards, with secrets spanning from sexual taboos and criminal activity to confessions of secret beliefs, hidden acts of kindness, shocking habits and fears.

Warren says he thinks of PostSecret as a safe and anonymous "place" where people can hear unheard voices and share untold stories.

During his presentation, Warren will reveal postcards that were banned from his books and may share some secrets of his own. Audience members also will have the chance to share their own secrets at the microphone.

Warren will be available after his talk for a book signing. Books will be available for purchase including the No. 1 New York Times Best Seller, "PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God."

Warren's web site is so popular that he was ranked as the fourth most influential person on the Internet in 2009. His site has been featured in USA Today, on the Today Show, 20/20, CNN, MSNBC, CBC, NPR, and FOX News. Recently the PostSecret web site received its 250-millionth hit and was named Weblog of the Year at the seventh annual Weblog Awards.

He has received a special award from the National Mental Health Association for raising awareness and funds for suicide prevention.

Source: 

Frank Warren (contact: Wendy Wallace-Wright)

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