About
Stories for the globally curious
“Stranger’s Guide is ideal for its luscious photo spreads, and its features go deep into subcultures that, until now, only the luckiest of strangers might discover.”
—Paris Review
“Visually stunning… Stranger’s Guide is a must.”
—Monocle
“…a one-of-a-kind travel magazine, with a literary vibe that calls to mind Lapham’s Quarterly and McSweeney‘s”
—Texas Monthly
“A stunning magazine”
—The Believer
Who we are
Stranger’s Guide explores how politics, power and culture shape daily life across the globe. We publish stories you won’t see elsewhere, stories with nuance, humor, danger—even that revelatory confusion that comes with so many formative encounters. These are stories that ask us to listen to the complexities of the world. Stranger’s Guide was founded in 2018 by Editor in Chief Kira Brunner Don and Publisher Abby Rapoport. We’re based in the US, but we don’t send writers on assignment to cover the world. Instead, we believe that writers, journalists and thinkers from their own countries are best equipped to explain their political and cultural realities.
We commission stories from local writers and photographers to build authentic portraits of a place around the world. Our work has won three National Magazine Awards in General Excellence and Photography and been featured in America’s Best Magazine Writing and America’s Best Travel Writing.
Read more about our staff here.
Stranger’s Guide is supported through partnerships, advertising, philanthropic donations and grants. To support our work, you can make a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, the Lexington Observer (EIN: 87-4640985).
Our guides
Each of our print guides explores a single location through photography, essays, journalism and fiction. Heavy on design and photography, these are objects to hold and to keep.
Our guides feature original works from local voices and recent volumes have featured world-renowned writers, including Edwidge Danticat, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Colum McCann and Wole Soyinka. Whether exploring a city, like Tehran or New Orleans, a country, like Colombia or Ireland, or a region, like the Amazon or Scandinavia, these guides make a beautiful display on any bookshelf or coffee table.
You can explore our full library here.
Our newsletters
In addition to our print editions, Stranger’s Guide is on Substack where we offer several newsletter series featuring original work from writers and photographers around the world. Our newsletters include long form essays, stunning photoessays and new fiction. Subscribers also receive Field Guides, our weekly email that tracks a new single theme across the world be it whiskey or voting, and Vignettes, our weekly cabinet of curiosities newsletter with facts, intimate portraits of interesting people, interviews and more.
Subscribe here to start seeing us in your inbox!
Subscribe to Stranger’s Guide today!