On Feb. 8, as nighttime fell over the city of Manila, the city’s nightcrawlers — the self-coined term for journalists covering the nightly killings under Rodrigo Duterte’s regime in the Philippines — started their work in earnest, as they do every night. 7000 kilometers away, in a small university conference room at NYU Abu Dhabi, a group of people sat in silence listening to Visiting Assistant Professor Miguel Syjuco talk about his experiences with these very nightcrawlers and their battle against injustice, fought with their weapon of choice: words.

Organized by NYU Abu Dhabi’s Literature and Creative Writing program, Syjuco’s reading was the first of five readings in the Writers Reading Series. The idea for the series came from a need to look inward and celebrate the work that is being created by NYUAD faculty.

“Because we have such extraordinary guests coming in on all parts of the campus, it’s easy to forget that right here at home, we have people doing extraordinary work,” said Deborah Williams, Program Head of Literature and Creative Writing at NYUAD. “It's this awareness that there’s a lot happening right here, even before we bring in outside speakers.”

For Williams, the event was a success.

“It was really what I hoped would happen,” said Williams. “Which is, the work of a writer sparking a wonderful conversation.”

In his talk, Syjuco read a draft of his opinion piece about investigative journalism in the Philippines for the New York Times. He appreciated the turn that the conversation took after his reading; instead of being about the craft of writing, the discussion turned into one about Filipino politics — something that Syjuco was more than happy to discuss.

“I got to talk a lot about the process, what it was like to go back to the Philippines, go to all of these crime scenes, see a lot of this death and gore and injustice, and try to fit it into a 1000-word piece. I had so many other stories that I wanted to tell that I was able to tell at this reading,” he said.

Syjuco envisions the program’s role as being groundbreaking in terms of the region’s literary scene.

“The Arts Center here, for example, is definitely leading the region in terms of presenting performing arts and the fine arts,” said Syjuco. “And I’m hoping that the reading series will be the seed that will lead to NYUAD also taking a leading role in presenting the literary arts, not just within the country but also within the region. And this is how it starts — from small things, big things come.”

Williams sees the Writers Reading Series not only as a community-building activity, but also as a window through which the rest of the NYUAD community can peek into the life of a writer.

“There’s lots of different ways of being a writer. Sometimes that means being a journalist, sometimes that means working in a university setting, sometimes that means being a waiter. It is not an unbroken path from I want to be a writer to now I make my living writing,” said Williams. “What I hope happens is that the students in the room start to understand what it means to be a writer.”

Certainly, the first talk has already paved the way toward achieving those goals. Sebastian Rojas Cabal, Class of 2017, had high praise for the event.

“The atmosphere was extremely pleasant. I felt very comfortable asking questions, and it's also refreshing to see writers' works-in-progress because it makes you feel less intimidated by writing,” he said, adding that even as a student not studying Literature or Creative Writing, he felt welcome.

Both Williams and Syjuco, though excited to see how the program will develop in the future, stress that the most important role of the Writers Reading Series is to help people find a voice.

“I personally am obsessed with this idea of writing being, in a way, a weapon or a tool that can be used for good,” Syjuco said. “For me, teaching writing is helping people find their voice. Because I believe having a voice is having a vote. It’s having the ability to demand the addressing of grievances, demand equality, demand rights. And if people can write creatively and communicate effectively, I feel that they’re that much more empowered to have all of those things.”

The event itself reflected that sentiment — attendees included faculty members, students and researchers from all kinds of academic and cultural backgrounds, united that evening by their interest in Syjuco’s work and Filipino politics. The next reading in the Writers Reading Series on Feb. 22 will feature Jill Magi, Assistant Arts Professor. For more details about the program, contact Williams or Dominique Lear, Class of 2017.