Amidst the Bhutanese writers struggling to get readership, Pema Gyaltshen launched her 10th Book, ‘Beautiful Chaos’, yesterday at Shari Higher Secondary School.
Despite, this being her 10th book, she is little known in the country. It is the same with many Bhutanese authors. She believes that the writer community in Bhutan should come together and empower themselves.
“As a writer, one of the biggest challenges in Bhutan is that first of all there is a poor readership. And that has to do with the fact that children are into gadgets. It’s a more digitized world. I think we are a small community and books are yet to grow. We still depend on literature from outside than our own. Anything comes up we always feel that outside is more dependable,” said Pema Gyaltshen, the author.
Pema Gyaltshen, an educationist wrote her first book in 2009. It was mostly based on animal characters, conceptualized to promote universal values.
However, the short stories in this book tell stories of embracing the moments and people in it irrespective of the differences. It is a collection of 7 short stories with a narrative of cross-cultural love story and an incomplete search as she says.
“It’s a process through the journey in life, through the challenges we face, the good times, the bad times but mostly the bad times. But within it, there is a story like I said especially to our younger generation about not getting so easily defeated, not losing hope instantly and trying to embrace things in a positive manner. This is what Beautiful Chaos is. It’s just a journey in life,” she added.
The book also has a story set in Rajasthan, which is different from most Bhutanese authors.
“It took me to a different part. It is set in Rajasthan. It’s a love story between Rajasthani and Sikkimese. Their story goes across the border. On the surface, it’s a love story. It’s a breezy love story. It is very picturesque in nature. There is the desert, the mela, everything. But at the same time behind the story, I am just trying to talk about acceptance,” she shared.
With an aim to launch many young writers with her book and encourage writing and reading amongst students, she said she chose a school to launch her book.
Sangay Chezom
