Author. Travel writer. Film producer. Underwater photographer.
Storyteller at heart.

Pier Nirandara is an award-winning author, travel writer, film producer, and underwater photographer. She began her career as Thailand’s youngest English-writing author of three #1 national bestselling novels, graphic novels, and short stories with over 200,000 copies sold. She has represented literary clients at ICM Partners, served as Director of Development at Sony Pictures, and as VP of Film & TV at A-Major Media, Hollywood’s first Asian American-driven production company.

A multi-TEDx speaker and former literary ambassador for the Bangkok Metropolitan/UNESCO, Pier has written for BBC, AFAR, Lonely Planet, Condé Nast Traveler, Off Assignment, Catapult, Oceanographic Magazine, Adventure.com, among others. Her words have won at the Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers, the Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing of the Year, and at the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference awards.

Pier is also a PADI AmbassaDiver™ and founder of Immersiv Expeditions, where she leads trips to swim with marine wildlife. Her photography has been recognized in global competitions including Ocean Photographer of the Year Award, UN World Oceans Day, the Ocean Conservancy Annual Photo Contest, Photographers Without Borders, and the 2023 Save Our Seas Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant. An advocate for solo female travel, she has had the privilege of traveling to over 100 countries across 7 continents, and can be found in Los Angeles, Cape Town, and @piersgreatperhaps.

From swimming with sharks in Hollywood to swimming with actual sharks. After traveling to over 100 countries across 7 continents, Pier discusses the philosophy of embracing a giant stride into the unknown.

Recent Adventures

This Thanksgiving…thankful to share that I’ve been selected as a finalist for the Storyteller of the Year in the 2024 @regenerativetravel Impact Awards 🥹🌱 These awards honor individuals and organizations driving meaningful change and
New article on some of the best places to dive, out now @roadbook 💙 Featuring favorite dive destinations like Mexico, French Polynesia, Bahamas, Galapagos, and of course, South Africa — diving is a way to explore a place through new eyes, to
Writing about one of my favorite places on earth: the Wild Coast. To the location that changed my life, the one I return to time and time again, year after year…read the full piece: https://www.afar.com/magazine/where-to-go-in-2025 Curious t
Aerial shots from our week wild camping on Socotra Island, Yemen. It’s hard to put the entire expedition into words: the pure density of awe and experiences. Like Namibia x Madagascar combined with otherworldly landscapes and endemic species,
He reminded us to cherish the beauty that can unfurl, even when moments are not momentous. “Isn’t it wonderful to know, beyond any doubt and with infinite, unearned grace, that the world holds so much?” he wrote, “and that it
Apparently November 3rd was World Jellyfish Day.
“Photography is a gift. You don’t take photographs, you’re given them.” From one of the craziest crystal clear days in the Atlantic diving with friends, where every moment felt like a gift 🤍
“I had scrubbed through countless photographs on travel websites: scenes of rustic life and countryside vistas, hillsides dotted with stupas and prayer flags fluttering in the wind. Bhutanese locals wearing traditional gho attire for men, kira
Journeying into the Amazon in search of pink river dolphins with @natgeo Explorer of the Year @fernandotrujilloomacha - an unforgettable experience. Nicknamed “Omacha” by the Indigenous (after the myth of the pink river dolphin that turn
Scenes from Bhutan, April 2023 From the archive: “I landed just in time for the final day of the Paro Tshechu Festival. One of the biggest events in Bhutan, the festival is held to celebrate Guru Rinpoche, who contributed enormously to the dif
10 years ago, I moved out to California and fell in love. In some ways, so much has changed. I was young, starry-eyed, and leapt with a fearlessness I no longer possess — the kind of reckless abandon reserved prior to real heartbreak. I still
My top experience recommendation in Cape Town? Go freediving for food with @veldandsea ✨ On the elemental Cape Peninsula, Roushanna’s coastal foraging workshops teach you how to harvest ingredients from what she calls an “edible landscap
The face of someone who just won a Raja Ampat @aggressorliveaboards trip ☺️ 1st Place - Behavior in the 2024 Through Your Lens Photo Contest. Congrats to all the other recipients, and thank you to @scubadivingmag @paditv for the recognition for this
New piece out on @bbc_travel with the one and only Craig Foster of @seachangeproject, with wonderful editing by @ieatmypigeon 🌱 What a joy to dive into this story with someone so synonymous with Cape Town’s waters, whose work has made such an