WELCOME STRANGER

Before there were guidebooks, 18th- and 19th-century authors wrote “stranger’s guides” to cities and countries–pamphlets and books that combined helpful tips with particular and offbeat advice and context: the best boarding houses alongside bits of history, preferred brothels as well as facts about paleontology and poetry. They were personal, eccentric and intimate portrayals of place. Stranger’s Guide is a modern version of that idea—a company dedicated to revealing the intricacies of places across the globe, through both local and foreign eyes.

Join us on the journey.

WELCOME STRANGER

Caribbean

Hispaniola

The tense border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti

by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
High in the steep, green mountains of central Hispaniola, near the long and porous border that divides the island where Columbus’ New World ventures began, and which is now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, lies a hamlet called Las Petacas. Set amid mist-shrouded stands of coffee and maize, its dirt-floored shacks are far closer to the capital of Haiti—Port-au-Prince is less than 40 miles away—than to Santo Domingo. ...

Bogotá

My Sensational Drama Queen

An ode to Bogotá

by Juli Delgado Lopera
We are publishing this essay on contemporary Bogotá alongside a mid-century portrait of the city written by ...

Bogotá

The Street: Bogotá, 1960

Never-before-translated vignettes on city-life by a young Gabriel García Márquez

by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by José Vargas
In 1960 the Camacho Roldan Bookstore published a series of books under the title Colombia: Country ...

Moscow

Under God

As Moscow transforms, one corner of the city remains sacred

by Dmitry Bykov
Translated by Sarah Jane There are places in Moscow that are directly under God’s protection, places ...

California

Desert Pilgrims

The wild characters drawn to Joshua Tree and Death Valley

by Colin Dickey
On a late spring evening, I am walking through Joshua Tree National Park with Ken Layne, ...

Texas

Legal Lynching

On death row in Texas

by Maurice Chammah
In 2016, a police officer was shot to death in San Antonio. A man was arrested, ...

Ireland

So Long Out of Ireland

Teaching storytelling as a national tradition

by Colum McCann
I have been out of Ireland for many years, but in fact, I have never left. ...

Lagos

The Kuti Legacy

Femi Kuti on politics, family and the future of Nigerian music

by Molara Wood
A uniquely congenial atmosphere welcomes visitors to The New Afrika Shrine in the Ikeja area of ...

Caribbean

My Father’s Land

The indelible marks of slavery in Jamaica

by Courtney Desiree Morris
Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs? Where is your tribal memory? Sirs, in that grey ...

Did You Know?

Africa

Photo credit: ICRC

Migrant Call Centers

In May 2019, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) set up call centers along the most popular migrant routes in West Africa, allowing people fleeing their home countries to contact their families for free. Most of the mobile phone banks were located in Niger, which has two such call centers at bus stations in Agadez, two in Arlit and one in Dirkou. They were established as part of the ICRC’s program to assist migrants in keeping in touch with loved ones. Since the Niger locations were established, the ICRC has extended the program to Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco and Tunisia. According to the nonprofit Infomigrants, the phone stands aren’t just there for free phone calls either: volunteers also inform their clients of “the dangers linked to sea- or desert-crossings.”

Captivating stories that bring the world to you.

Stranger’s Guide brings international locations into new focus, commissioning stories from local writers and photographers to build authentic portraits of a place. We design our award-winning print guides, newsletters, carefully selected products and partnerships to combat stereotypes while expanding global citizenship.

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