The Portuguese street paper celebrated #VendorWeek with a gathering of all its 40 vendors in the capital city of Lisbon.

Each year, one of the most trusted and oft replicated #VendorWeek events is a ‘Big Sell’, which brings together notable names and vendors to share in the experience of selling a street paper. In Australia, The Big Issue asks business leaders and entrepreneurs to become vendors for the week, and this year is no different.

Swiss street paper Surprise teamed up with a lucrative local ad agency for #VendorWeek transforming pitch locations into bold, eye-catching billboards to draw more attention to vendors out selling street papers.

As always, the first week of February sees the street paper network mark #VendorWeek, an annual celebration of those people central to the street paper mission – our vendors!

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. This is the final instalment in the #VendorLetters series, and features veteran Big issue Japan vendor Toshihiko Sakata writing lyrically about his life.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Trott-war vendors came out in their numbers to contribute to this instalment of the #VendorLetters series.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Today’s instalment features Street Roots vendors Nettie and Mark.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Six Nový Prostor vendors imagine waking up as a 25-year-old again.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Hus Forbi vendor Dirk talks through how Danish politics and society shaped his life.

Megafon, the street paper of Bergen, Norway, has been going since 2007 but, this festive season, its annual Christmas book will be its last edition. However, Megafon’s closure is an example of the stellar work it has done rising to the challenge of addressing homelessness and poverty, to the point that it is no longer needed as an alternative income source for the city’s poorest people.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Today, we hear from three StreetWise vendors.

To mark the end of INSP’s 25th anniversary year, we have been asking vendors across the street paper network to write a letter to their 25-year-old self. Shedia vendors Leonidas and Maria still have a fondness for the people they were at 25.