Bhutan

BHUTAN Photography & Poetry by Sudeep Sen Prose by Ravi Shankar

Part travelogue, part lyric meditation, part photographic essay, Bhutan brings together the chiselled poetry and evocative photography of Sudeep Sen with the sharp, exploratory prose of Ravi Shankar, two acclaimed writers of South Asian origin who travel deep into what is often called the world's last Shangri-La, returning with something far more complicated and alive than myth.

Nestled in the eastern Himalayas, Bhutan has long cultivated its image as the happiest country on Earth, a kingdom that measures prosperity not in GDP but in Gross National Happiness. Shankar approaches that 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 absorbs 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 prayer flags, monasteries, and mountain light carry the same lyric precision as his verse. Together, they create a two-voiced, multi-modal portrait of a country at the crossroads of tradition and transformation—a literary reckoning with place, beauty, and the stories nations tell about themselves.

Praise

A unique and personal multi-genre book. Sen's chiselled lyric poetry and evocative photography, and Shankar's crisp prose, bring alive aspects of this country that only true artists can excavate. — Shabana Azmi

An elegant treasure trove that captures what is special about our country. — Dasho Kinley Dorji

A two-way narrative that tracks the forward motion of experience on the road to transcendence. — Diane Mehta

A sheen of eudemonic delight adheres to this book. Shankar explores the modernising monarchy with wit and good humour, while Sen's poems and photographs complete our grateful immersion. — Amit Majmudar

About the Authors

Ravi Shankar is the author of 18 books, including the memoir Correctional (University of Wisconsin Press). A Pushcart Prize winner published in The Paris Review and The New York Times , he is founding Editor-in-Chief of Drunken Boat and teaches at Tufts University.

Sudeep Sen , author of over 25 books, is an internationally acclaimed poet, editor, and photographer published across six continents in The Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian . The Government of India awarded him its senior fellowship for outstanding persons in culture and literature. He is the first Asian to deliver the Derek Walcott Lecture.

Trade Paperback / Full-Colour $29.95 Drunken Boat / Fortunate Traveller Press