In the Kingdom of Bhutan, where Covid-19 is relatively well controlled, every new episode of the pandemic still leaves us wondering what’s ...
In the Kingdom of Bhutan, where Covid-19 is relatively well controlled, every new episode of the pandemic still leaves us wondering what’s next. Two nationwide lockdowns have disrupted the easy life in a country of 750,000 people. The pandemic has caused social and economic upheavals with the closure of borders, the stoppage of trading, the shut-down of schools and colleges.
Among other businesses, the country’s small printing and publishing houses and bookstores have had to sail into uncharted territory. Online reading and distribution of books have become more popular in times of lockdown, and efforts continue to produce publications despite disruptive times.
Early publishing
Early writings in Bhutan were classical Tibetan texts in Choekey, and spiritual works that were written in calligraphy, some of them traced back to the 13th century. Later works were printed with wooden blocks or xylography. With the advent of a secular education in the 1960s, English language works began to appear. When the first newspaper started in 1986 as a weekend paper, many people asked, “Why is it distributed on a weekend when we’re not working?” Reading, then, was regarded as something you do at work, or for spiritual pursuit, not for pleasure.
Apart from the newspapers that have a small but...
