Derek Mascarenhas currently lives in Toronto. His parents immigrated to Canada from Goa, India and settled in Burlington, Ontario. Mascarenhas is a graduate of the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program.
Fiction (Juvenile, Picture book)
100 Chapatis
Illustrated by Shantala Robinson.
Toronto: Owlkids Books, 2023.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Simon doesn’t want the baby to come. He was happy with just his mom, dad, and Pappa. Now, Mom and Dad are at the hospital, and Simon and Pappa are waiting for news at home.
Knowing how hard it is to wait, Pappa starts Simon on a project of making one hundred chapatis. They measure the ingredients, knead and roll the dough, and then drop them one by one into a giant frying pan. Soon, Simon is so busy that he forgets to worry. “Can I show the baby how to make chapatis?” he asks Pappa. And before they know it, Pappa is frying up the one hundredth chapati … and the phone is ringing!
Fiction (Short stories)
Coconut Dreams
Toronto: Book*hug, 2019.
PS8626 .A795 C64 2019
Publisher’s Synopsis (from its website)
Coconut Dreams explores the lives of the Pinto family through seventeen linked short stories. Starting with a ghost story set in Goa, India in the 1950s, the collection weaves through various timelines and perspectives to focus on two children, Aiden and Ally Pinto. These siblings tackle their adventures in a predominantly white suburb with innocence, intelligence and a timid foot in two distinct cultures. Derek Mascarenhas takes a fresh look at the world of the new immigrant and the South Asian experience in Canada. In these stories, a daughter questions her father’s love at an IKEA grand opening; an aunt remembers a safari-gone-wrong in Kenya; an uncle’s unrequited love is confronted at a Goan Association picnic; a boy tests his faith amidst a school-yard brawl; and a childhood love letter is exchanged during the building of a backyard deck. Singularly and collectively, these stories will move the reader with their engaging narratives and authentic voices.