Writing the Paranormal in Asia

Yvette Tan is one of the Philippines’ most celebrated horror writers. Aside from short fiction collections in English and Tagalog, she’s written a feature film that received nationwide release and co-written a libretto for a ballet that was performed by Ballet Philippines on the main stage of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. She was the official scribe of the Manila Biennale in 2018 and her story was the companion piece to the artwork that adorned the Philippine pavilion in the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair. She co-hosted Trese After Dark, the behind-the-scenes companion to the Netflix hit anime Trese. She was a creative consultant for a Filipino game inspired by the country’s mythical creatures and the collection Seek Ye Whore and Other Stories was nominated for the 41st National Book Awards. Her works have been translated into Spanish, Czech, Hungarian, and French. Read more about her at yvettetan.com.

Mike Alcazaren is a freelance director/writer/ideator with 30 years experience in advertising, film, television, and digital media. He began his career heading the award-winning animation group Alcazaren Bros. in 1989. The group specialized in stop-motion, the first in Southeast Asia, then shifted to live-action directing (advertisements) in 1995 and continues till the present, creating content for different media platforms (concept & direction). In between advertising jobs, he has written three screenplays, one of which, “Prisoner Alpha”, won First Place in the the 2007 Carlos Palanca Awards. Alcazaren has directed two films “Puti” (2013), an art-house thriller and the documentary (co-director/2022) “11,103,” about survivors of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship. The film was recognized as the Best Documentary at the 46th Gawad Urian Awards. “Patay Kung Patay” is his first venture into the comic book scene in collaboration with writer and artist Noel Pascual and AJ Bernardo. The comic book series has recently been translated into an English compilation book, “Death Be Damned,” which won a 2023 National Book Award for Best English Graphic Novel. He is completing another documentary entitled, “Children of the War,” which follows the stories of survivors of the Battle of Manila 1945 where an estimated 100,000 civilians perished from both the Japanese atrocities and the American advance to liberate the city.