One balmy, dusty Delhi day, Outside In Literary & Travel Magazine co-creators, Brandi Dawn Henderson and Susanna Wickes, sat in a coffee shop and wondered aloud if they could ever be considered insiders in a place where, even after spending a combined seven years, they were so obviously cast apart as outsiders. Between them, they’d experienced a hundred different sides of the country, each of them having lived in places people “like them” didn’t typically go. Each did her best to dig deep into the dirt of Bharat Mata and to hold up her hands to display the evidence under her nails, but they were each either too tall or too fair or too confused when Hindi was spoken too quickly to garner much more than a collective, polite “Good try”.

This conversation led them to some filmmaker friends, who recommended a cameraman for hire. This man joined them in Delhi’s diverse Pahar Ganj neighborhood, where Brandi and Susanna began to explore the idea of outsider versus insider culture more seriously. This is the result:

Susanna and Brandi then hopped around from venue to venue in Delhi and beyond, showing the film and heading discussions on the topic, which was where the idea for Outside In Literary & Travel Magazine was born. It is our goal to share stories about the lives and journeys and loves and heartaches and adventures of those from all walks of life, within (and without) all borders. We want to understand you and what makes you tick; whether through your true stories, your fiction, poetry, photostories, or microjourneys; whether you’re from Micronesia or Oman or Canada or southern Alabama.

We couldn’t be more proud to report that, in our first year, we have had visitors from all of the following countries:
Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus,
Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guernsey, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In short, we seek to share high-quality accounts of life because we believe that global storytelling can cause heads and hearts to grow wiser.

Head on over to the submissions page to read more about our genre-specific preferences, and click here to read more about our expanded editorial family.