Street paper vendors have been giving the inside scoop on the cities they know best. Here, The Big Issue Australia vendor Mark talks about the Gold Coast.

The Big Issue has been reaching out to vendors across the street paper network to get the inside scoop on the cities they know best. Here, vendor Daniel talks about Inverness.

This weekend marks the start of the 2019 Homeless World Cup, and INSP is heading to Cardiff to attend. Ahead of kick off, Welsh team representatives from this year and tournaments past received international caps, an honour which means they have now been officially recognised for representing their country in the sport.

Portland’s Street Roots has a periodic column about the parts of homelessness most people don’t talk about. Through the tough times and the good, vendors Johnny and Stephanie find that life is better together.

Pauli is one of Zeitschrift der Strasse’s original vendors and is recognisable thanks to his trademark FC St. Pauli baseball cap. Here, he looks back on the challenges of his early life and talks candidly about his experience of homelessness. He is feeling hopeful about the future thanks to the companionship of his beloved pet dog, Laika, who inspired him to confront his addictions.

The Big Issue has been reaching out to vendors across the street paper network to get the inside scoop on the cities they know best. Here, vendor Steve talks about Oxford.

Bete first started work as an Aurora De Rua vendor in 2010 after spending 10 years on the streets. She now works as a facilitator on the Levanta-te e Anda [Get Up and Walk] Project in addition to continuing her work for Aurora De Rua. Bete, who is renowned for her friendly nature, takes great satisfaction in her work and is grateful for all that she has accomplished.

In this letter, Liceulice vendor Vesna Avramović tells a very personal story. She describes the personal changes that working as a vendor have brought into her life. She used to lack the confidence to communicate, was prone to anxiety attacks and was also afraid of all sorts of rejection. In time, these tensions lessened, and she started to find joy in her life and work.

The Big Issue has been reaching out to vendors across the street paper network to get the inside scoop on the cities they know best. Here, Nový Prostor vendor Slavko talks about Prague in the Czech Republic.

Last week, US President Donald Trump made comments about homelessness that garnered some bewildered reactions. Homelessness is an issue rarely spoken on by Trump. But a community of people who know a thing or two about homelessness in the US are street paper staff and vendors. A selection of them, from Portland’s Street Roots and Washington, D.C.’s Street Sense, had their say.

Last weekend marked the first time a street paper was sold on the streets of Peru. The first edition of Peatón was sold by the fledgling organisation’s first two vendors, Olga and Eremia, in Piura, a city located in north-western Peru. Peatón is a brand new member of INSP, and joins a contingent of Latin American street papers hailing from Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. INSP spoke to Peatón founder Jorge Ledesma to find out more about the project.

After attending the 2019 Global Street Paper Summit, INSP board member, and Real Change founding director, Tim Harris offered some reflections on the state of the street paper movement and what we have to look forward to in the future.

The Big Issue has been reaching out to vendors across the street paper network to get the inside scoop on the cities they know best. Here, Maurice Richards, a Big Issue vendor in Wales, talks about Cardiff.

Janko is a Nový Prostor vendor currently based in Prague, Czech Republic. He has over eight years’ experience of being a magazine vendor and he has worked in various European countries during this time. Here, he talks about what his life as a vendor is like and explains why striving for good fortune and having hopes for the future are important in life.

After being trafficked into sex slavery, and emotionally and physically abused for much of her childhood, Sara Kruzan killed her abuser and was sentenced to life without parole. After fighting for her release, Kruzan has dedicated her freedom to advocating for the rights of young children put in similarly impossible situations. She spoke to INSP as she addressed an audience in Edinburgh about her work.

We recently crowned the winner of our People’s Cover Award – find out who took home the top prize, and take a look at the other covers making a splash and being sold by our vendors around the world.

On the first day of this year’s Global Street Paper Summit, current INSP chair Fay Selvan was joined in conversation by INSP co-founder, first ever chair, former honorary president, and co-founder of the Homeless World Cup, Mel Young, for a wide-ranging discussion about the past, present and future of the street paper movement as INSP turns 25. The conversation was moderated by Hannele Huhtala, editor-in-chief of Finnish street paper Iso Numero. The full transcript is now available.

In a twist on the long-running vendor profile feature, Claire McKenna tells us more about Toledo Streets vendor Rooster Tinch. Claire is a Toledo Streets vendor and program manager who has become close to Rooster since he started working as a vendor in early 2018. Here, she talks about how Rooster has become part of the Toledo Streets family and a valued and successful team member – and shares the maxims that he lives by.

Our picture gallery of the 2019 INSP Awards. Relive the highlights!

After news of his death broke early last week, tributes began to pour in for popular Big Issue vendor Paul Kelly. Today at his pitch, outside Sainsbury’s supermarket on the city’s main shopping street Buchanan Street, where flowers, messages and mementos had sprung up in his absence, a crowd of people joined friends, colleagues, and others who had been touched by his character and presence, for a vigil in his memory.

The final day of #INSP2019 saw social media analyst Ray Serrato address delegates about social issues in countries such as Germany, Pakistan and Myanmar and how extremist and inflammatory sentiment is being spread using social media channels like Facebook and YouTube.

The #INSP2019 day two speaker was social entrepreneur Orit Kopel, a freedom of expression advocate and co-founder of Wiki-based news platform WikiTribune. She spoke to attending street paper delegates about the prevalence of fake news, community-sourced journalism and her new project, Glass Voices, a social enterprise looking to train women in public speaking to ensure a new generation of women who are given the opportunity to be heard in business.

The winners of the 2019 INSP Awards have been revealed at the official Awards Ceremony, as part of the Global Street Paper Summit in Hannover, Germany.

Fabi Reyna is the editor of She Shreds, a groundbreaking magazine that is a revolutionary platform for female guitarists. Since being launched in 2013, the magazine has championed itself as being an inclusive space that celebrates female guitarists – a demographic that is often overlooked in the industry. Here, Reyna looks back on five years of success and contemplates what is in store in the magazine’s future. Last night at the 2019 INSP Awards, this piece won Best Cultural Feature. Now, you can read it in full.

Dr. Naheed Dosani is among a growing number of health care practitioners working to bring palliative care to those living on the margins. Megaphone spoke with Dosani, and others leading this initiative, as well as the individuals, and their families, it has helped. Last night at the 2019 INSP Awards, this piece won Best News Feature. Now, you can read it in full.

All of us experience some degree of stress in our everyday lives. For those who are homeless, however, stress can be a debilitating and chronic issue. Street Roots talked to a number of individuals about their experiences of life on the streets and about the impact that stress has had on their lives. This is especially pertinent as delegates at this year’s ongoing Global Street Paper Summit talk about dealing with conflict and vendor welfare.

To mark the 2019 INSP Awards, we are diving into the INSP Archive to bring you the pieces crowned with editorial honours. Oklahoma City’s The Curbside Chronicle published its ‘Ghost Bikes’ photo essay last year during National Bike Month and is now the recipient of this year’s Special News Service Award.

When Trondheim street paper Sorgenfri unveiled its new design at the start of 2019, it made in-depth, longform investigative pieces the focal point. The magazine’s editor Vanja S. Holst spoke to INSP about the reasons behind focusing on investigative journalism, how it informed their redesign and the process the Sorgenfri team undertake with each new issue. Sorgenfri is a finalist in the Best Design category at this year’s INSP Awards.