Aristeo wanted to be a sport star. But somewhere along the way, he lost himself. Thanks to Mi Valedor, things are looking up for him. Here, he explains why.

TV show, ‘Petter Uteligger (Homeless Petter) – a New Opportunity’, has started airing on Norwegian channel TV2. The subject of the show is street paper =Oslo’s coffee shop, =Kaffe, staffed primarily by vendors, many of whom have a history of drug addiction. Petter Nyquist followed the =Kaffe gang from the get go, and all the way to Rwanda.

Vancouver vendor Priscillia Tait took the winning cover photo of the 2018 Hope in Shadows calendar. Here, she talks about the setting she chose for the photograph, as well as her family, growing up in an Indigenous community and her experience of homelessness.

Tina first arrived in Portland two and a half years ago and she now sells Street Roots from her pitch outside Target in Downtown Portland. Here, she reflects on her childhood struggle to reconcile her outer gender with her inner self, how welcoming Portland has been for her as a trans woman and the rich feeling of hope that her mother endowed her with.

German street paper Hinz&Kunzt turns 25 this year and, to celebrate, its team of staff and vendors are opening a pop-restaurant, Kunzt Kitchen, which will serve meals rustled up by some of Hamburg’s best chefs.

Curbside Chronicle vendor Steve talks in depth about his childhood, growing up, his experiences of homeless and what it is like to work as a street paper vendor in Oklahoma City.

The Tibetan Buddhist nuns of the Drukpa order are inspiring women to discover their own power through the ancient martial art of kung fu, thanks to their series of now famous self-defence workshops. Alongside this, they are instigating even deeper change thanks to their efforts educating local communities about environmental issues, human trafficking and respecting and supporting women in their societies. When INSP was invited to Trust Conference, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s annual human rights seminar, we spoke to two of the nuns about their work. On International Women’s Day, we bring you their inspirational story.

In Germany, 100,000 women have no home of their own and a quarter of all homeless people are women. bodo spent time with four women from Bochum who are facing homelessness. They talked about their experiences and explained why women who live on the streets are ignored.

Constantin (60) is a vendor for Hinz&Kunzt at the REWE-Center in Dorotheenstraße. After losing his home and his family in his native country of Romania, he travelled to Germany looking for work. After finding himself sleeping rough, he turned to the German street paper for help.

The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, takes place this Sunday, so Chicago’s StreetWise asked its vendors to view a handful of the Academy-nominated films and share their thoughts. It’s a hotly contested year, with quality filmmaking running throughout the nominations, as well as some big surprises and a welcome turn towards greater diversity. (Be warned, there are SPOILERS ahead).

With entries for the 2018 INSP Awards opening very soon, has February delivered us any potential winners in the Best Cover category?

Tommaso, a Scarp de’ tenis vendor in Italy, tells us about his close relationship with his brother and how it has helped him push through some of the more challenging periods of his life.

Our vendor on the pitch, Nancy Mngqelana, 53, sells The Big Issue magazine in Claremont. She shares her inspiration and aspirations, and her story ‘sew’ far.

Big Issue vendors from across Australia offer words of advice, reflection, consolation and love to their teenaged selves in these special letters written for #VendorWeek 2018.

If they weren’t regular customers already, the people who generously gave up their time during #VendorWeek to try selling Big Issue North for an hour vowed not to walk on by again.

The Big Issue Australia vendor Cameron has become an internet sensation after a Facebook post about his unique idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day went viral.

The future beckons for high-school student Jusuf, who is looking forward to entering the world of work. Here, he tells us his story and talks about his life, desire to travel and love of dancing the tango.

In honour of #VendorWeek 2018, Megaphone vendor James Witwicki and L’Itinéraire vendor Yvon Massicotte had a ‘face-to-face’ interview to swap experiences of how both wound up selling street papers.

Canadian street paper L’Itinéraire welcomed their readers, community organisations, sponsors and partners into their Montréal offices for their first-ever “Journée Portes Ouvertes” (Open Doors Day).

Ahead of this year’s #VendorWeek celebration, Canadian street paper Megaphone announced their Vendor of the Year – Craig Baron (who was also recently featured in our Vendor Moments series). Here, he tells us about his life and what it’s like being a Megaphone vendor. Celebrating our vendors is what #VendorWeek is all about.

To celebrate #VendorWeek 2018, The Big Issue Australia took an in depth look at the ways street papers around the world are creating extra employment opportunities for the people who need them most. And what better way to learn about them than from the people who are employed by and benefit from them. Social enterprises featured in the article come from these INSP members: The Big Issue Australia, =Oslo, The Curbside Chronicle, Shedia and L’Itinéraire.

To mark #VendorWeek 2018, US street paper Denver VOICE published a four-page spread completely dedicated to their vendors, as well as hosting a Big Sell event in the city. In the feature, vendors talk about their pitch, their daily routine, and we even here from readers showing their appreciation for their local vendor.

Today, North American street papers will join in with the #VendorWeek celebrations by hosting selling events, some for the first time. This #VendorWeek tradition is a chance for those unfamiliar with the street paper movement to understand better what street paper vendors do.

Amongst all the #VendorWeek events and activities going on, Hus Forbi’s take on the global celebration presents something a little bit different. Each night this week, one lucky reader will receive a visit from Hus Forbi editor Poul Struve Nielsen and one of the magazine’s vendors to cook up a delicious meal using recipes from the Danish street paper’s 2018 calendar.

One sure-fire way to begin to understand what street paper vendors do every day is by stepping into their shoes. Selling events are popular throughout the INSP network during #VendorWeek, and The Big Issue Australia’s is the biggest and most established. The 2018 instalment is no different.

INSP is delighted to launch a brand new video to celebrate street paper vendors around the world, as #VendorWeek 2018 gets underway today.

Street papers from across the INSP family are celebrating #VendorWeek 2018 from 5-11 February. Find out about the events and activities street papers are getting up to here.

#VendorWeek 2018 is just around the corner, so we caught up with nine StreetWise vendors. They praise the magazine for giving them hope for the future, the opportunity to interact meaningfully with others and the promise of self-sufficiency.