On Bhutan’s emerging publishing scene
With the rise of self publishing and a fresh generation of authors and creative entrepreneurs, Bhutan is writing a new chapter of its literary history
There was a time not too long ago when most Bhutanese literary works were in local languages. But things are changing. The publishing scene in Bhutan, which ended its political isolation by joining the United Nations in 1971, has been evolving steadily in recent years. As the country continues to open up to the world, its literary landscape, once limited to oral traditions, has seen a surge in book publications, especially in English.
Bhutanese authors have been prolific in recent years. According to the Bhutan Infocomm and Media Authority (BICMA), over 900 books have been published there since 2006, with 500 being written in English and 400 in Dzongkha, the country’s official language. That’s about 53 books a year. “There is a general belief across the world that publishers and books are declining over the years due to new media and the internet. Contrary to this, we are publishing more and more books every year, especially by young writers,” says Kitso Pelmo Wangdi, producer, Bhutan Echoes, the three-day annual literature festival that was held in Thimphu in August.
The festival that was founded in 2010 has been running its own publishing programme too and has been enabling Bhutanese writers to engage with acclaimed international authors, and learn from them through writing workshops. “When the litfest began, there were very few Bhutanese writers writing in English. Over the years, it has inspired several aspiring Bhutanese writers to write in English and be a part of the mainstream writing community,” said Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck in her opening speech at Bhutan Echoes 2023.
Every year, young writers submit dozens of manuscripts to the festival. “Our emerging writers need to have a strong support system,” says Wangdi. But resources and experts are in short supply. This lack pushed Kunzang Choden (71), the first Bhutanese author to get published in English, to start a publishing house, Riyang Books. Incidentally, Riyang means “melodies from the mountains”.
While it has now found its footing, the publisher was initially hamstrung by the absence of established literary agents and professional editors. “Publishing is very new to us. It’s been barely 50 years since we shifted from being a largely oral society to a literate one. We had no tradition or history of using books. Only the monks and monasteries dealt with books,” says Kunzang, who graduated from Indraprastha College, Delhi University, long before the Royal University of Bhutan — the venue of the Bhutan Echoes Literary Festival — was built in 2003.
She is also the first Bhutanese author to get published in India. This year, she won the SAARC Literary Award in Delhi. “India is a major hub for publishing and Bhutanese authors can never compete with other authors from the subcontinent. But we can watch and learn and also find guidance from Indian writers whom we meet at literary forums like Bhutan Echoes. In due course, I hope we will find a niche for Bhutanese writers in the region,” says Kunzang who is driven by a need to take Bhutanese stories to readers around the world. Her own journey as a writer began with Folktales of Bhutan, a collection of 38 legends published by White Lotus in Bangkok in 1994. For Kunzang, it was “a shot in the dark” because no Bhutanese writer had yet recorded the country’s oral traditions in a book written in English. “There were no role models or people with experience to turn to for guidance,” she says. Since then, she has had her work published by White Lotus, Zubaan and Penguin India.
However, there were no takers for Ogyen Choling: A Manor in Central Bhutan (2012), a document of the architecture of her ancestral home. That’s when Kunzang and her family decided to venture into publishing. The success of Riyang Books has inspired others.
Yeshey Choden (28), Bhutan’s first female satellite engineer, who is passionate about poetry, represents the new generation of Bhutanese authors. She self published Embrace (2022), which features poems about “discovering love in another human being after finding that love within yourself”. Earlier this year, she brought out a children’s book, Rimela, the Last Star.
“When it comes to self publishing, everything is toned down, everything is simpler — unlike the processes at big publishing houses. That’s how I wanted to start off. Publishing sounds very daunting especially for me as I come from an engineering background. Self publishing seemed to be my best option. Here, the process is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is get in touch with two higher authorities — BICMA, to get the book registered, and the Centre for Bhutan Studies, which provides the book’s ISBN number,” says Yeshey, who has founded The Nyingtob Initiative Literature Fund to support young writers.
“Crowd publishing guru” Passang Tshering, the founder of BookNese — Bhutan’s well-known blogging platform — has changed how Bhutanese authors approach book marketing. His platform facilitates crowd-funding for book projects thus bringing down the financial barriers for young authors. “In Bhutan, the idea of publishing is largely limited to self-publishing. Knowing the market size and the dynamics, young people are happy with vanity publishing as long as they can afford the cost of printing the book. People think printing is publishing. But that’s just one small part. Even if there was a full-fledged publishing house here, the idea of 10% royalty won’t attract any writer,” he says.
When he published Passu Diary (2018), his debut and Bhutan’s first-ever blog-to-book, he gained insights into the workings of trade publishing. “If you look at a book from pre-BookNese times, they are poorly designed (not sure about the content). Since BookNese came about to advise people on the process, the books look great (still unsure about the content),” he says. Booknese helps archive and showcase every Bhutanese book. It assists authors in placing them through their e-commerce platform and provides consultancy services too. “We sell about 2,000 copies, which is decent for the small Bhutanese market. We have also been making some profits. Since we have no concept of rejection in self-publishing, we tend to publish all the manuscripts that come to us,” he says.
Tshering Denkar (32) is a solo traveller and influencer. Her debut book, The Tourist Within, catapulted her to fame. “Compared to a decade ago, we are witnessing more books getting published. Most new authors choose to self-publish because there is hardly any famous publishing house in the country,” says Denkar, who began writing her book, an anthology of travel blogs, during the lockdown.
“I barely knew any publishing houses and there was no one to guide me so I decided to self-publish. When my book was ready, I promoted it using social media,” she says. Denkar is the first author to have organised a significant book launch event in the country. “I sold copies on launch day and got the word out through my social media platform. I also organised a book tour, and meet-and-greet sessions. Within a very short time, my book was sold out,” she says.
How many copies must a book sell to qualify as a bestseller? And what sells the most? “Fiction is the most popular genre with a print run anywhere between 1,000 to 5,000 copies, followed by non-fiction, also about the same number. Many publish poetry but it’s hard to sell. It usually sells about 1,000 copies. I see a potential of over 15,000 copies, but we are happy with a few thousand without a coordinated effort to promote books and reading,” says Passang. “I am not sure of the print-runs, but young authors are very effective on social media. Word-of-mouth is an efficient way of selling their books,” says Kunzang.
Other promising names are Peky Samel (a journalist-turned-poet), Tshering Wangchuk (bureaucrat-turned author), and Karma Tsering, who writes books for children. There is a general awareness that the Bhutanese publishing industry is in its infancy and that challenges persist, including limited critical feedback, financial constraints, and the public’s preference for international authors. “The most important challenge is the limited number of readers due to the small population. Because we have not seen the development of a conventional publishing industry, though we have the literary capability, the industry has not grown. We have no professional editors or literary agents. Many works are edited by friends as a favour. In a small society, people are very careful not to be too critical of each other’s work. So writers do not get real critiques to help them improve the manuscript. Often, people write in isolation because there are no book clubs and writing groups,” says Kunzang.
Passang believes the publishing industry hasn’t really taken root. “In recent times, self-publishing has boomed. Hundreds of books enter the market but only a few are done through publishing houses. Compared to how young people leverage social media to market their books, publishing houses have far less reach,” he says.
Thimphu, the centre of Bhutan’s nascent publishing scene, is going through a big transition. Major international hotels are coming up across the capital and there are many bars and karaoke clubs where youngsters groove to popular international tracks. Few of them, however, have much to do with the written word. “There were very few libraries around where I was raised. Even now, it’s tough to find a library in the capital. In Thimphu, we have hundreds of pubs, but libraries and bookstores remain few and far between,” says Denkar.
Still, it is certain that Bhutan is treading new trails and that stories and a fresh literary spirit is emerging in the country’s clear mountain air.
Shireen Quadri is the editor of The Punch Magazine Anthology of New Writing: Select Short Stories by Women Writers.
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