Maria Felisa H. Batacan is a Filipino journalist and a writer of crime and mystery fiction. Her work has been published in the Philippines and abroad under the name F.H. Batacan.

Biography

She was a fellow at the 1996 Dumaguete National Writers' Workshop. Batacan worked in the Philippine intelligence community and then became a broadcast journalist.Christian (2010), p. 291. She attended the

University of the Philippines Diliman , image = University of The Philippines seal.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = Official Logo of UP Diliman , motto = Honor and Excellence , established = February 12, 194 ...

, where she pursued a master's degree in Arts Studies.Hildago (2006), p. 79. In 1999 her manuscript, ''

Smaller and Smaller Circles ''Smaller and Smaller Circles'' is a mystery novel by Filipino novelist F. H. Batacan. It won the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the English Novel in 1999.Hidalgo (2006), p. 79. It also won the National Book Award in 2002 and the Madrigal-Go ...

'', won the

Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, popularly known as the Palanca Awards, are a set of literary awards for Philippine writers. Usually referred to as the "Pulitzer Prize of the Philippines", it is the country's highest literary ...

Grand Prize for the English Novel. This novel was published in 2002 by the

University of the Philippines Press The University of the Philippines Press (or the U.P. Press) is the official publishing house for all constituent units of the U.P. system, and is the first university press in the country. It is mandated to encourage, publish, and disseminate sch ...

. Although most Filipino English-language fiction works garner a single print run of only 1,000 copies, ''Smaller and Smaller Circles'' had been reprinted four times by the year 2006, for a total of 6,000 copies.Hidalgo (2006), p. 78. The novel was one of the first Filipino works of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

. The novel also won the 2002 Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award and the Madrigal-Gonzales Best First Book Award in 2003. In 2008, she won 1st prize in the English short story category Yuson, 2008 of the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards. In 2015, a new, expanded edition of the novel was published by Soho Press, New York.

References

Sources

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External links

*Soho Press book pag

*Soho Press backgrounde

*Article on expanded editio

*Author intervie

*Revie

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batacan, Felisa Living people Filipino women novelists Filipino novelists Year of birth missing (living people)