diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Applicative flags [![Hackage](https://img.shields.io/hackage/v/flags-applicative.svg)](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/flags-applicative) [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/mtth/flags-applicative.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/mtth/flags-applicative)
+# Applicative flags [![Stackage LTS](https://stackage.org/package/flags-applicative/badge/lts)](https://stackage.org/lts/package/flags-applicative) [![Stackage Nightly](https://stackage.org/package/flags-applicative/badge/nightly)](https://stackage.org/nightly/package/flags-applicative) [![Hackage](https://img.shields.io/hackage/v/flags-applicative.svg)](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/flags-applicative) [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/mtth/flags-applicative.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/mtth/flags-applicative)
 
 Simple flags parsing, inspired by
 [`optparse-applicative`](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/optparse-applicative).
diff --git a/flags-applicative.cabal b/flags-applicative.cabal
--- a/flags-applicative.cabal
+++ b/flags-applicative.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: flags-applicative
-version: 0.1.0.1
+version: 0.1.0.2
 synopsis: Applicative flag parsing
 description: https://github.com/mtth/flags-applicative
 homepage: https://github.com/mtth/flags-applicative
diff --git a/src/Flags/Applicative.hs b/src/Flags/Applicative.hs
--- a/src/Flags/Applicative.hs
+++ b/src/Flags/Applicative.hs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
   -- ** Unary flags
   flag, Reader,
   -- *** Common readers
-  autoVal, textVal, fracVal, intVal, enumVal, hostVal,
+  autoVal, textVal, stringVal, fracVal, intVal, enumVal, hostVal,
   -- *** Reader combinators
   listOf, mapOf,
   -- * Running parsers
@@ -308,6 +308,11 @@
 -- since 'autoVal'  will expect its values to be double-quoted and might not work as expected.
 autoVal :: Read a => Reader a
 autoVal = readEither . T.unpack
+
+-- | Returns a reader for a single string value. This can useful when interfacing with non-text APIs
+-- (e.g. 'FilePath') but in general prefer 'textVal'.
+stringVal :: Reader String
+stringVal = Right . T.unpack
 
 -- | Returns a reader for a single text value.
 textVal :: Reader Text
diff --git a/test/Spec.hs b/test/Spec.hs
--- a/test/Spec.hs
+++ b/test/Spec.hs
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@
         res = parseFlags parser ["--foo=1", "--foo=1"]
       res `shouldBe` Right (1, [])
 
+    it "should support strings" $ do
+      let
+        parser = flag stringVal "bar" ""
+        res = parseFlags parser ["--bar", "abc0"]
+      res `shouldBe` Right ("abc0", [])
+
     it "should support text lists" $ do
       let
         parser = flag (listOf textVal) "bar" ""