Why Giving Voice to the Voiceless Isn’t Optional in Storytelling

Stories shape the world. But if we’re not giving voice to the voiceless, we’re shaping a world that leaves people behind. Not just in fiction—but in real life.

We don’t tell every story—and that silence shapes everything.

Historically, literature—like history—has centered the same kinds of characters, the same kinds of lives, the same lens of experience. Everyone else? Relegated to the sidelines. Flattened. Forgotten. Or worse—never written in at all.

And yet, here’s the thing: there ar...