MANILA, PHILIPPINES – This June, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is inviting curious minds and thrill seeking writers to dive deep into the murky world of crime fiction with none other than F.H. Batacan, the genre’s trailblazing force in the Philippines. In collaboration with Penguin Random House US, CCP is hosting a free seminar workshop with Batacan on June 24, 2025.
Batacan, a journalist and writer based in Singapore, isn’t just any author – she’s the powerhouse behind Smaller and Smaller Circles, the 1999 debut that cracked open the Filipino crime fiction genre and earned her a National Book Award in 2002. The novel went global in 2015 when Soho Press, a Penguin Random House client, republished it for an international audience. It even hit the silver screen in 2017, proving that Filipino crime stories can hold their own anywhere in the world.
This year, Batacan is back with Accidents Happen and Other Stories, a gritty, gripping collection of Philippine crime fiction also released by Soho Press. As part of her book tour, she’s making a Manila stop, and CCP is turning that visit into an opportunity for aspiring authors to learn directly from the master herself.
The workshop is open to all free of charge so long as participants submit a crime story pitch by June 10, 2025. (Ideas can be submitted via this form.) Batacan will deliver a keynote on writing compelling crime fiction, covering everything from structure to suspense. Then she’ll take those submitted pitches and give personalized feedback.
