The publishing industry has undergone a seismic shift with the rise of digital formats, altering the ways stories are told, translated, and shared. Digital storytelling offers new opportunities for multilingual narratives and wider accessibility, but it also challenges writers to engage deeply with the implications of technology, identity, and authorship. In this rapidly changing landscape, being a writer is no longer just about creativity; it requires a commitment to research, reflection, and self-compassion.
Digital Publishing and Storytelling
The expansion of digital publishing has enabled new voices to emerge across various platforms. The Critical Connections Multilingual Digital Storytelling Project demonstrates how digital narratives can foster linguistic diversity, showcasing and celebrating many different languages, discourses and dialects, and intercultural dialogue. By integrating multiple media forms, such as animations and photographs, storytellers can connect personal experiences with global themes like “Belonging” and “Journeys.” This shift has allowed digital platforms to democratize publishing, providing space for marginalized voices to reach international audiences.
Translation plays a crucial role in this digital transformation. While AI-assisted tools have accelerated accessibility, the role of human translators remains essential in preserving linguistic nuance and cultural depth. Publishers acquiring world rights to books now ensure simultaneous releases in multiple languages, broadening readership and fostering cross-cultural understanding. However, translation is more than just a technical process—it requires deep empathy and careful engagement with the meaning behind the words.
Federico Ivanier’s Never Tell Anyone Your Name
A compelling example of digital storytelling’s impact is Federico Ivanier’s novel, Never Tell Anyone Your Name (Ediciones Santillana, Montevideo, 2023). Originally written in Spanish and later translated into English, the novel explores identity, anonymity, and personal security in the digital world. The protagonist’s journey highlights the risks and consequences of online exposure, particularly in an era where digital footprints are nearly impossible to erase. Ivanier’s work speaks to the complexities of self-representation in a hyper-connected age and reminds us that storytelling, whether in print or digital form, must remain deeply personal and socially conscious.
As writers, educators, and translators, engaging with such narratives requires us to be reflective practitioners. Using the guise of an action-packed, romantic thriller, Ivanier’s novel invites us to consider not only the ethics of digital identity but also the broader role of the writer as a researcher—someone who seeks to understand the world before attempting to shape it through words. Writing is an act of inquiry, a process of uncovering and making sense of the complexities around us.
Translation and Global Accessibility
The shift to digital has also influenced translation practices. AI-assisted tools and machine translation have accelerated accessibility, but human translators remain crucial in preserving linguistic nuance and cultural integrity (Smith & Bold 2018). Publishers increasingly acquire world rights to books, ensuring simultaneous releases in multiple languages and expanding the reach of translated works (Goldsmiths Research, 2025).
Copyright and the Protection of Digital Narratives
As digital storytelling continues to redefine publishing, protecting creative work has become more critical than ever. The ability to share stories on a global scale, whether through self-publishing, multilingual storytelling projects, or cross-border collaborations, brings opportunities but also challenges. Writers, illustrators, and translators must ensure that their work is protected from misuse while maintaining the accessibility and openness that digital storytelling fosters.
Sarah Burton of the Society of Authors emphasizes that copyright is fundamental to ensuring creators retain control over their work. Copyright grants authors the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, and adapt their work, safeguarding it from unauthorized use. However, in a digital era where content is widely shared and adapted, creators must balance protection with participation in global literary conversations.
Key aspects of copyright in digital storytelling include:
- The right to be credited for one’s work, reinforcing the importance of authorship in an increasingly shared digital landscape.
- Protection against unauthorized adaptations, ensuring that digital narratives remain true to their original intent.
- Ensuring that translated works respect the integrity of the original, particularly in cross-cultural storytelling projects.
While copyright protects originality, the digital space also encourages remixing, adaptation, and intertextuality. Fair dealing provisions allow for limited use of copyrighted material in contexts such as criticism, review, and education. For digital storytellers working in multilingual or multimedia formats, understanding these provisions is key to both using and protecting creative content (UK Intellectual Property Office, 2025).
Contracts and permissions remain essential considerations for digital storytellers who engage in collaborations, publishing deals, or translation projects. Ensuring that agreements uphold moral rights—such as proper attribution and protection from derogatory modification—preserves the integrity of a creator’s work in a globally accessible space (Society of Authors, 2025).
Creative Writing, Integration, and Representation
In The Myth of Integration: Continuing Racisms and Inequalities in the Global North, Hsiao-Hung Pai critiques the concept of “integration” in Europe, arguing that it often masks structural inequalities (Pai, 2020). Digital storytelling can challenge these narratives by providing a platform for marginalized voices.
Projects like SPRAR (Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees) in Italy have attempted to “integrate” migrants through vocational training and language learning but often fail due to inadequate resources and economic exploitation (Pai, 2020). Digital storytelling allows displaced individuals to share their experiences directly, bypassing state-controlled narratives of integration.
Creative Writing and Political Expression
The relationship between writing and socio-political change is evident in the works of Nobel laureate Han Kang. In her Guardian interview, she reflects on South Korea’s political turmoil and its impact on artistic expression (The Guardian, 2025). Her latest novel, We Do Not Part, revisits historical trauma, underscoring the role of literature in confronting injustices. Digital storytelling offers similar potential, enabling writers to document, translate, and disseminate politically charged narratives worldwide.
The Future of Publishing and Digital Storytelling
Publishing companies have adapted to digital supply chains, moving towards direct sales, subscription models, and online platforms like Amazon Kindle and Google Play Books (Cader, 2025). While DRM and copyright concerns persist, digital storytelling continues to revolutionize how stories are shared and who gets to tell them.
By merging digital innovation with storytelling, multilingual projects and self-publishing platforms are reshaping the creative writing landscape (Goldsmiths MDST, 2025). This shift presents opportunities for educators, translators, and writers to engage with storytelling in new and transformative ways.
The Writer as a Researcher and a Reflective Practitioner
To write with integrity in the digital age, authors must be diligent researchers. Whether working in fiction, non-fiction, or translation, understanding the historical, cultural, and technological contexts of a subject is paramount. This means moving beyond surface-level storytelling and engaging in critical reflection on the narratives we create and consume.
At the same time, writing should be a practice of self-compassion. Too often, writers fall into the trap of self-criticism, pushing themselves to meet external expectations rather than allowing themselves space to grow. Being a compassionate teacher to oneself means acknowledging the difficulties of the creative process and recognizing that storytelling is not just about producing content—it is about healing, understanding, and making sense of the world.
The Healing Power of Storytelling
Storytelling has always been a means of making sense of trauma, history, and personal experience. Digital storytelling, with its interactive and multimedia potential, offers new ways to engage with these themes. As we navigate an era where misinformation and fragmented narratives abound, the role of the writer as a truth-seeker becomes even more vital. Writing, whether through personal narratives, translation, or digital storytelling, is a practice of repair—it allows us to reclaim narratives, challenge biases, and imagine new possibilities for the future.
In this way, storytelling is not just an act of creation but an act of restoration. By approaching writing as both a research practice and a reflective, healing process, we can better understand our own narratives and those of others. Whether through fiction like Ivanier’s novel, translated works that cross cultural boundaries, or digital projects that give voice to marginalized communities, the future of publishing depends on writers who are willing to listen, learn, and write with intention.
Conclusion
Digital storytelling has transformed the way we write, translate, and share narratives. However, in this ever-changing landscape, writers must remain committed to research, self-reflection, and the ethical responsibilities of storytelling. Ivanier’s Never Tell Anyone Your Name, a short YA thriller, reminds us of the importance of examining identity in the digital age, while broader shifts in publishing push us to consider how we engage with language, technology, and the stories we choose to tell. By embracing our roles as researchers, compassionate teachers, and reflective practitioners, we can ensure that storytelling remains a force for connection, understanding, and healing.
References
- Cader, M. (2025). The Future of Digital Publishing. Publishers Marketplace.
- Goldsmiths MDST (2025). Critical Connections Multilingual Digital Storytelling Project. https://goldsmithsmdst.com/ (Accessed 02/02/2025)
- Pai, H-H. (2020). The Myth of Integration: Continuing Racisms and Inequalities in the Global North in Brave New Words (Penguin 2020).
- Smith, K. & Bold, M.R. (2018). The Publishing Business: A Guide to Starting Out and Getting On. Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
- The Guardian (2025). Interview with Han Kang on Political Crisis in South Korea. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/01/i-want-to-be-hopeful-nobel-prize-winning-novelist-han-kang-on-the-crisis-in-south-korea (Accessed 24/02/2025)
- Society of Authors (2025). Guide to Copyright Permissions. https://societyofauthors.org/download/guide-to-copyright-permissions/ (Accessed 28/02/2025)
- UK Intellectual Property Office (2025). Copyright and Fair Dealing. Retrieved from www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/copyright
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