Derek Mascarenhas Writers in Residence Archives
Derek Mascarenhas is a graduate of the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program, a finalist and runner-up for the Penguin Random House of Canada Student Award for Fiction, and a nominee for the Marina Nemat Award. His fiction has appeared in places such as Joyland, The Dalhousie Review, Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Cosmonauts Avenue, and The Antigonish Review. His linked short story collection, Coconut Dreams, was called a "stunning debut" in Quill and Quire’s starred review and The Globe and Mail named it one of the best reads from Canadian small presses. Derek currently lives in Toronto and is working on a novel in the magic realism genre.
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May 31, 2020Signing off.
Horrific day to be posting this last entry. The violence and harm inflicted on Black people is enraging. Seeing the failure of some to recognize this terror—or worse be complacent and perpetuate it—can ...
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May 28, 2020
Something on race.
I had planned to post something on race. I was going to look at how it has affected me, including the friendships I have (and don’t have) today in real life. I was going to explore race in story and ...
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May 26, 2020
Writing and the Body.
As I sit at my desk and stare at this screen, I’m reminded of the impact of writing on my body. I recognize being able-bodied carries a tremendous amount of privilege, and there are many others with ...
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May 24, 2020
Sustinance.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what sustains us. Art, in many ways, can feed and fill us. But in a more literal sense, food has come into much greater focus these past few months. Along with ...
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May 20, 2020Am I a Music Vampire?
I usually write to music. More accurately, I write to individual songs. I listen to one song on repeat, for hours, days, sometimes even weeks or months. I’m not sure at what point exactly this became ...
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May 16, 2020Readings...that feeling never goes away.
I always get that feeling right before reading my work in public. You may know it: the urge to simultaneously faint, throw up, and run out of the room. My first few readings were terrifying. I was fortunate ...
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May 11, 2020Goals from another time.
I found this piece of paper recently. I’d made it many years back and stuck it to my wall when I was trying to get organized with my linked short story collection, Coconut Dreams.Some observations:I’d ...
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May 07, 2020
Watching a Storm.
There was one anecdote that for some reason didn't evolve into a story in my collection Coconut Dreams. My young sibling characters, Ally and Aiden, are in the garage of their quiet suburban townhome. ...