Booknese is an online platform and bookstore dedicated exclusively to books by Bhutanese authors. Founded by Passang Tshering (known as Chablop PaSsu), one of Bhutan's most prominent bloggers, the platform serves as an archive, marketplace, and community for Bhutanese literature in English, Dzongkha, and bilingual editions. Booknese catalogues works across more than 40 categories of fiction and non-fiction, and partners with Bhutan Post for nationwide delivery.
Booknese (subtitled "Books By Bhutanese") is an online platform and bookstore dedicated exclusively to books by Bhutanese authors. Founded by Passang Tshering, one of Bhutan's most prominent bloggers and social workers, the platform serves as an archive, marketplace, review forum, and literary community for Bhutanese writing. Booknese catalogues works in English, Dzongkha, and bilingual Dzongkha-English editions across more than 40 categories of fiction and non-fiction. It is the first online bookstore selling exclusively Bhutanese books.[1]
The platform addresses a longstanding challenge in Bhutanese publishing: in a country of approximately 780,000 people with a small domestic book market, Bhutanese authors have historically struggled to reach readers. International publications dominate bookshop shelves, and distribution infrastructure within Bhutan's mountainous terrain has made it difficult to circulate locally produced works. Booknese was created to aggregate Bhutanese literary output in one accessible location and to make nationwide delivery affordable through a partnership with Bhutan Post.[2]
Founder
Passang Tshering, widely known by his pen name Chablop PaSsu, is a blogger, social worker, and literary advocate from Haa District in western Bhutan. He has maintained the influential blog PaSsu Diary (www.passudiary.com) since 2009, documenting Bhutanese daily life, culture, and social issues. His blog posts were compiled into the book PaSsu Diary: A Journal of an Ordinary Bhutanese, which became one of Booknese's most-reviewed titles, with over 55 customer reviews on the platform.
Tshering is also the founder of Bhutan Toilet Organisation, a civil society organisation focused on improving sanitation and public health across Bhutan. In 2015, His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck conferred upon Tshering the honorific title Chablop ("Toilet Teacher") in recognition of his sanitation advocacy. The Bhutan Toilet Organisation was subsequently awarded the National Order of Merit (Gold) in 2016 for its service to the country. Tshering leveraged his publishing industry experience and public profile to create Booknese as a platform for wider Bhutanese literary engagement.[3]
Platform Features
Catalogue and Categories
Booknese organises its catalogue into over 40 categories, split between fiction (14 types, including novels, poetry, romance, and short stories) and non-fiction (26 types, including history, culture, science, language, biography, and education). Users can browse by category, author, or language. The platform supports three language options: English, Dzongkha, and combined Dzongkha-English bilingual editions.
Notable titles available on the platform include The Biography of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (an English translation of an original Dzongkha text about Bhutan's unifier), Yalama Apa (an illustrated children's reader in Dzongkha and English), and Dzongkha English Chinese: Easy Chinese Learning (a trilingual educational text).[4]
Community and Reviews
Beyond commerce, Booknese functions as a literary community platform. Registered members can share reviews and ratings of books they have read, fostering a culture of literary discussion that has been historically limited in Bhutan. The platform's "Top 20 Books" section highlights the most popular and highly rated titles, providing a form of crowdsourced literary curation.
Distribution
Booknese has partnered with Bhutan Post, the national postal service, along with other logistics partners including DLF and iBEST Studios, to offer affordable book delivery across Bhutan. The platform's tagline — "Sending Books Across Bhutan Becomes Cheap" — reflects its core mission of overcoming the distribution barriers that have historically limited the circulation of Bhutanese-authored works, particularly to readers outside Thimphu and other urban centres.[5]
Significance for Bhutanese Literature
Bhutan's literary landscape has grown substantially in the 21st century, but it remains small by international standards. The country lacks large publishing houses, and many Bhutanese authors self-publish or work with small presses. Booknese addresses this gap by providing a centralised digital marketplace that gives visibility to works that might otherwise circulate only among personal networks or in a single bookshop in Thimphu.
The platform is particularly significant for Dzongkha-language publishing. As Bhutan's national language, Dzongkha has a relatively small body of contemporary published literature compared to English. By actively cataloguing and promoting Dzongkha-language and bilingual works, Booknese supports the broader national effort to develop Dzongkha as a language of modern literary expression.[6]
See Also
References
- Booknese. "Home — Books By Bhutanese." https://www.booknese.com/
- Booknese. "Home — Books By Bhutanese." https://www.booknese.com/
- Bhutan Echoes / Drukyul. "Passang Tshering — Speaker Profile." https://www.drukyul.org/speakers/passang-tshering/
- Booknese. "Home — Books By Bhutanese." https://www.booknese.com/
- Booknese. "Home — Books By Bhutanese." https://www.booknese.com/
- Booknese. "Dzongkha — Books By Bhutanese." https://www.booknese.com/language/dzongkha
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