Mayank Bhatt
WRITER/MENTEE
MAYANK BHATT immigrated to Toronto from Bombay (Mumbai) in July 2008 with his wife Mahrukh and son Che.
His debut novel, Belief, was published in 2016 by Mawenzi House Publishers (Toronto) .
Mayank was selected for the Toronto-based Diaspora Dialogues’ mentoring program (for short fiction) in 2009, where MG Vassanji, the eminent Canadian novelist, was his mentor.
His short stories have been published in TOK 5: Writing the New Toronto, Canadian Voices II and Indian Voices I, The Maple Tree Supplement and The Beacon (India).
In Canada, Mayank has done two writing programs – journalism from Sheridan, and creative writing from Humber.
From 2010 to 2014 he was a columnist for Canadian Immigrant magazine where he wrote about his everyday experiences as a newcomer to Canada.
He blogs at www.generallyaboutbooks.com.
As a newcomer to Canada, Mayank worked as a security guard before joining the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
He was an Administrative and Marketing Coordinator at Simmons da Silva LLP, a Brampton-based law firm.
Mayank worked as the Executive Director of Canada India Foundation. in 2018-19, and returned to Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce as the Chamber’s first Executive Director.
In India, he was a print journalist for a dozen years, and then handled media and commercial relations at the US Consulate.
He also taught journalism, and was a course coordinator, and core faculty member at the Bombay College of Journalism, and the Garware Institute at the University of Mumbai.
Mayank was a research associate for two projects of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
The first – Satellites Over South Asia – explored the impact of satellite television on South Asia. He conducted primary and secondary research on the financial and commercial aspects of the revolution.
The second project was Grassroots Initiatives and the Rights to Information Movement in India, where Mayank researched three grassroots organizations and documented their struggle to gather information in their fight for justice.
At present, he is working on a collection of linked short stories.
Mayank is a Short Form 2009 mentee and worked with M.G. Vassanji.