Drunken Boat / Fortunate Traveller Press has announced the publication of Bhutan, a multi-genre collaboration by acclaimed writers Sudeep Sen and Ravi Shankar. The book combines Sen's poetry and photography with Shankar's prose to create a nuanced portrait of the Himalayan kingdom, moving beyond its popular image as the world's last Shangri-La.
Nestled in the eastern Himalayas, Bhutan has long cultivated its image as the happiest country on Earth, measuring prosperity through Gross National Happiness. In Bhutan, Shankar approaches this claim with wit, analytical rigor, 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 candor, 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 color, 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. Bhutan is not a travel book in any conventional sense; it is a literary reckoning with place, beauty, and the stories nations tell about themselves.
The book has garnered praise from notable figures. Actress Shabana Azmi remarked, "Bhutan, seen through the eyes of two sensitive writers, is a unique and personal multi-genre book. Sudeep Sen's chiselled lyric poetry alongside his evocative photography, and Ravi Shankar's crisp prose, bring alive aspects of this country that only true artists can excavate and paint in their own signature styles." Dasho Kinley Dorji added, "Bhutan is an elegant treasure trove that captures and displays—through Sudeep Sen and Ravi Shankar's unique photographic and literary styles—what is special about our country."
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, 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 (ISBN: 978-0-9882416-3-7) is available as a trade paperback in full color for $29.95. It can be purchased on Amazon. The book defies easy categorization, offering readers a sensory travelogue that tracks the forward motion of experience on the road to transcendence.
