Bhutan Echoes is a literature and arts initiative that coordinates and produces events to promote literature, culture, and art in Bhutan, culminating in ‘Drukyul’s Literature Festival,’ an annual international literary festival held in Bhutan.
Her Majesty the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Gyalyum Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck is the Chief Patron of Bhutan Echoes: Drukyul’s Literature Festival.
The festival organizing committee consists of a Board of Advisors, Board of Directors, and the festival producer.
BHUTAN ECHOES
Bhutan Echoes, a year-round initiative of Drukyul’s Literature Festival, nurtures a literary culture in Bhutan through a range of digital and in-person programs and projects.
VISION MISSION
Bhutan Echoes encourages reading, inspires writing, and nurtures storytelling in Bhutan.
HISTORY
In 2010, Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, co-founded Bhutan’s first literature festival; called Mountain Echoes, as a Bhutan-India initiative. Over the last decade, the festival has welcomed the likes of international literary figures such as Pico Iyer, Ruskin Bond, and Vikram Seth as well as contemporary Bhutanese authors like Aum Kunzang Choden and Her Majesty the Queen Mother, who is herself a celebrated author.
In 2020, the festival began a new chapter. His Majesty the King of Bhutan renamed the festival as “Drukyul’s Literature Festival” with a view to promoting more local engagement. When the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world, the 2020 festival was not feasible due to restrictions on international travel and large public gatherings. Thus, the DRUKYUL’S LITERATURE FESTIVAL launched Bhutan Echoes, a year-round initiative to nurture a literary culture in Bhutan through social media, online events, and editorial publications.