Jerry Pinto (born 1966) is a

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

-based

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n English poet, novelist, short story writer, translator, as well as journalist. Pinto's works include '' Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb'' (2006), which won the Best Book on Cinema Award at the 54th

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

, ''Surviving Women'' (2000) and ''Asylum and Other Poems'' (2003). His first novel '' Em and the Big Hoom'' was published in 2012. Pinto won the Windham-Campbell prize in 2016 for his fiction. He was awarded the

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 2016 for his novel ''Em and the Big Hoom''.

Background

Jerry Pinto is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

of Goan origin, and grew up in

Mahim Mahim (Marathi pronunciation: aːɦiːm(Marathi: माहिम) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway and Harbour Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network is the l ...

. He received a liberal arts degree from

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the ed ...

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

, and a law degree from Government Law College,

Career

His 2006 book about actress

Helen Jairag Richardson Helen Ann Richardson Khan (born as Helen Ann Richardson; 21 November 1938), known mononymously as Helen, is an Indian actress and dancer. She has appeared in over 700 films, making her a prolific performer in Hindi cinema. She is known for her s ...

titled ''The Life and Times of an H-Bomb'',‘Helen: The Life and the Times of an H-Bomb’
/ref> went on to win the

National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema The National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards ...

in 2007. His collection of poems, ''Asylum and Other Poems'' appeared in 2003. He has also co-edited ''Confronting Love'' (2005), a book of contemporary Indian love poetry in English. He returned to magazine journalism as a Consulting Editor at ''Man's World'' magazine. Later, he joined Paprika Media (the publishing house that brings out

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

Mumbai and Time Out Delhi) to edit their special projects. He is now a freelance

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, writing articles for the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'' and ''

Live Mint ''Mint'' is an Indian financial daily newspaper published by HT Media, a Delhi-based media group which is controlled by the K. K. Birla family that also publishes '' Hindustan Times''. It mostly targets readers who are business executives a ...

'' newspapers, as well as '' The Man '' and ''MW'' In 2009, he coauthored ''Leela: A Portrait'' with

Leela Naidu Leela Naidu (1940 – 28 July 2009) was an Indian actress who starred in a small number of Hindi and English films, including '' Yeh Raste Hain Pyar Ke'' (1963), based on the real-life Nanavati case, and '' The Householder'', Merchant Ivory Pr ...

, a semi-biographical book of anecdotes and photos from Leela Naidu's life. Leela Naidu was continuously listed as one of top ten or top five most beautiful women in the world in the 1950s and 1960s by magazines like ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''. His first novel, ''Em and the Big Hoom'', was published in 2012, and won

The Hindu Literary Prize ''The Hindu'' Literary Prize or ''The Hindu'' Best Fiction Award, established in 2010, is an Indian literary award sponsored by ''The Hindu Literary Review'' which is part of the newspaper ''The Hindu''. It recognizes Indian works in English and ...

that year. It was also shortlisted for the

Commonwealth Book Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

. He has translated several books from Marathi to English including ''

Cobalt Blue Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4. Cobalt blue is lighter ...

'', '' Baluta'', ''When I Hid My Caste'' and ''I, the Salt Doll''.

Books

* ''Surviving Women''. Penguin Books, 2000. . * ''Bombay, meri jaan: writings on Mumbai'', with Naresh Fernandes. Penguin Books, 2003. * ''Asylum and Other Poems''. (Poetry in English). Allied Publishers India., 2003. * ''Confronting Love, (edited with Arundhathi Subramaniam ) ''. (Poetry in English).

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb''. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2006. . * ''Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa''. Penguin Group, 2006. . * ''Bollywood Posters'', with Sheena Sippy. Thames & Hudson, 2008. * ''Leela: A Patchwork Life'' with

. Penguin Group, 2009. * '' Em and the Big Hoom''. Aleph Book Company, 2012. * ''Phiss Phuss Boom'', with

Anushka Ravishankar Anushka Ravishankar is an author of children's books, and co-founder of Duckbill Books, a publishing house. Early life Ravishankar was born in Nashik, and graduated in mathematics from Fergusson College, Pune in 1981. While at college, she wa ...

and Sayoni Basu. Illustrated by Vinayak Varma. Duckbill, 2013. * ''When Crows Are White'', 2013. * ''Monster Garden'' . Illustrated by

Priya Kuriyan Priya Kuriyan is an Indian comic book writer, illustrator and animation filmmaker, based in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka. She is the author of the comic book ''Ammachi's Glass,'' and the author of the picture book and children's adaptation of ...

. Duckbill, 2016. * ''Murder in Mahim'', 2017.

Awards and honours

* 2007

for '' Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb'' * 2012

winner for ''Em and the Big Hoom'' * 2013

Crossword Book Award The Crossword Book Award (formerly known as the Crossword Book Award (1998–2003), the Hutch Crossword Book Award (2004–07), the Vodafone Crossword Book Award (2008–10), the Economist Crossword Book Award (2011–13), Raymond & Crossword Bo ...

(fiction) for ''Em and the Big Hoom'' * 2016

Windham–Campbell Literature Prizes The Donald Windham Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes is an American literary award which offers prizes in four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. The award was established at Yale University in 2011 with the first prizes presented ...

(Fiction) for ''Em and The Big Hoom'' * 2016

for ''Em and The Big Hoom''

References

External links

Jerry Pinto's WebsiteAbout Jerry Pinto and his poems
reviewed by

Ranjit Hoskote Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sahitya ...

Hindustan Times columns by Jerry Pinto.Live Mint: columns by Jerry PintoThe Hindu: One per cent writing and 99 per cent rewritingWindham–Campbell Prizes Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Jerry 1966 births Living people Indian male poets English-language poets from India Indian male journalists Indian magazine editors Writers from Mumbai University of Mumbai alumni Indian Christians Indian columnists Poets from Maharashtra Indian male novelists Indian children's writers Indian political writers 20th-century Indian journalists 21st-century Indian novelists Journalists from Maharashtra Novelists from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian poets