Drunken Boat / Fortunate Traveller Press has announced the publication of Bhutan, a multi-genre work that combines poetry, photography, and prose to examine the Himalayan kingdom beyond its popular image as the world's last Shangri-La. The book features the chiselled poetry and evocative photography of Sudeep Sen alongside the sharp, exploratory prose of Ravi Shankar, two acclaimed writers of South Asian origin who traveled to Bhutan and returned with a complicated, alive portrait of a nation at a crossroads.
The book challenges Bhutan's carefully cultivated image as the happiest country on Earth, a nation that measures prosperity through Gross National Happiness rather than GDP. Shankar approaches this claim with wit, analytical rigour, and genuine wonder, tracing the country's modernizing monarchy, its Buddhist heritage, and the complicated textures beneath the glossy surface of official narrative. His prose moves with curiosity and candour, absorbing landscapes and sacred sites without surrendering critical intelligence.
Sen's poetry and photography provide a stunning counterpoint. Spare, musical, and visually arresting, his couplets operate as short flashes of organic form—obsessed with colour, texture, and the sacred. His photographs of Bhutan's prayer flags, monasteries, and mountain light carry the same lyric precision as his verse, making the book a genuinely integrated work of art. Together, the two writers create a two-voiced, multi-modal portrait of a country at the crossroads of tradition and transformation.
The book has garnered praise from notable figures. Actress Shabana Azmi described it as "a unique and personal multi-genre book" that brings alive aspects of Bhutan "that only true artists can excavate." Dasho Kinley Dorji called it "an elegant treasure trove" that captures what is special about the country. Writer Diane Mehta noted that Shankar's "wit and his sceptical commentary is a foil for Sen's delicate musical poetry," while poet Amit Majmudar highlighted the "sheen of eudemonic delight and heightened astonished awareness" that adheres to the book.
Ravi Shankar is the author of 18 books, including the memoir Correctional (University of Wisconsin Press). A Pushcart Prize and Glenna Luschei Prize award winner, his work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The New York Times. He teaches at Tufts University and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Drunken Boat. Sudeep Sen [www.sudeepsen.org], the author of over 25 books, is an internationally acclaimed poet, editor, and photographer. His work has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and major literary media across six continents. The Government of India awarded him a senior fellowship for "outstanding persons in the field of culture/literature."
Bhutan is available on Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/5f3f4aay as a trade paperback in full colour, priced at $29.95 (ISBN: 978-0-9882416-3-7). The book defies easy categorization, offering readers a literary reckoning with place, beauty, and the stories nations tell about themselves.
