Get a chance to join a special seminar-workshop with the esteemed Filipino writer behind award-winning crime novel “Smaller and Smaller Circles.”
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), in collaboration with Penguin Random House US, will be hosting an author event with esteemed Filipino writer F.H. Batacan on June 24, 2025. Taking the form of a seminar-workshop, it aims to spark Filipino readers’s curiosity for crime fiction in Philippine literature, as well as inspire aspiring writers to explore the potential of crime fiction as a genre.
The event is free to everyone who will submit their crime story pitch until June 10, 2025, through the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/BmgcezLS14Fh6bt29.
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Learn Crime Fiction From One Of The Best
Maria Felisa H. Batacan, known by her pen name F.H. Batacan, is a journalist and a writer of crime and mystery fiction currently based in Singapore. Her debut novel, Smaller and Smaller Circles, was originally published by the University of the Philippines Press in 1999. It centers on two Jesuit priests engaged in forensic work, and tasked with the responsibility of solving the murders of young boys in Payatas, Philippines.
The novel won the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the English Novel in 1999, then later received the National Book Award for Best Novel in 2002. It was later acquired and republished by renowned New York independent publisher and Penguin Random House client Soho Press in 2015. A movie based on Smaller and Smaller Circles was also released in 2017.
Earlier this year, F.H. Batacan released a collection of Philippine crime fiction stories titled Accidents Happen and Other Stories, which was also published by Soho Press. As part of her book tour organized by Penguin Random House, she will be traveling to the Philippines and spending time in Manila this June, the Cultural Center of the Philippines being one of the stops in her tour.
What To Expect At The Workshop-Seminar
As part of the seminar-workshop at the CCP, Batacan will be giving a lecture on writing crime fiction, discussing her techniques and strategies in creating suspenseful stories that resonate with diverse readers. For the second part of the workshop, she will provide feedback to previously submitted crime story pitches from the participants. She hopes that through this event, she’ll be able to better promote crime fiction in the Philippines for a new generation of readers and writers.
For other details and updates, please visit the CCP Intertextual Division’s Facebook page, CCP’s official website, and its social media platforms on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.
