Jerry Pinto

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Jerry Pinto
Pinto at Amaravati Literature Festival, 2025
Born (1966-05-22) 22 May 1966
Goa, India
Occupations
  • Poet
  • novelist
  • short story writer
  • translator
  • journalist
Known forEm and the Big Hoom (2012)
Awards

Jerry Pinto (born Jeronimo Pinto, 22 May 1966) is an Indian poet, novelist, short story writer, translator, and journalist based in Mumbai, India. He writes in English. 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,[1] as well as Surviving Women (2000) and Asylum and Other Poems (2003). His first novel Em and the Big Hoom was published in 2012.[2] Pinto won the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Fiction in 2016.[3] He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2016 for his novel Em and the Big Hoom.[4]

Early life

Jerry Pinto was born in Goa, India.[3] He is a Roman Catholic.[5] He grew up in Mahim, Bombay.[6] Pinto received a liberal arts degree from Elphinstone College, University of Mumbai, and a law degree from Government Law College, Mumbai.

Career

Pinto's 2006 book about the Indian actress Helen titled The Life and Times of an H-Bomb,[7] won the National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2007.[1]

His collection of poems, Asylum and Other Poems, was released in 2003.[8] He also co-edited Confronting Love (2005) with Arundhathi Subramaniam, a book of contemporary Indian love poetry in English.

He returned to journalism as a consulting editor at Man's World magazine.[9] Later, he joined Paprika Media to edit their special projects. He is now a freelance journalist, writing articles for the Hindustan Times[10] and Live Mint[11] newspapers, as well as The Man and MW.

In 2009, he co-authored Leela: A Portrait with Leela Naidu, a semi-biographical book of anecdotes and photos from Naidu's life.[12]

His first novel, Em and the Big Hoom, was published in 2012,[13] and won The Hindu Literary Prize that year.[14] It was also shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2013.[15] It won the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in Fiction in 2016.[3]

He has translated several books from Marathi to English including Cobalt Blue, Baluta, When I Hid My Caste and I, the Salt Doll.[16][17] From Hindi into English he translated the novel Havan (The Fire Sacrifice, 1989) by Susham Bedi.[18]

Bibliography

Awards and honours

References

  1. Ram, Anjali (19 November 2025). "Living and Leaving Well : Author Jerry Pinto's latest book dives into the realm of palliative care". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  2. "Em and The Big Hoom". Aleph Book Company. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  3. "Pinto, Jerry". Windham-Campbell Prizes. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  4. Rosario, Kennith (22 December 2016). "Sahitya Akademi award for city writer Jerry Pinto". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  5. Vinai, Maya (3 February 2019). "'We live and love on a fissure': an Interview with author Jerry Pinto". Writers in Conversation. 6 (1). doi:10.22356/wic.v6i1.38. ISSN 2203-4293.
  6. Aleem, Ayesha (22 March 2016). "Jerry Pinto's Mahim". Condé Nast Traveller India. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  7. Bamzai, Kaveree (3 April 2006). "Book review of 'Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb' by Jerry Pinto". India Today. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  8. Hoskote, Ranjit (3 October 2004). "Poetry as a refuge". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004.
  9. "Who's behind Man's World?". Man’s World. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010.
  10. Pinto, Jerry (18 September 2022). "Jaywalking: Jerry Pinto: No city for walkers?". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  11. "Jerry Pinto". Mint. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  12. Negi, Manjula (24 June 2010). "The Many Lives of Leela Naidu". Open Magazine. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  13. Kumar, Sheila (6 January 2013). "'One per cent writing and 99 per cent rewriting'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  14. "Jerry Pinto wins The Hindu Literary Prize 2012". The Hindu. 22 April 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  15. Ghuznavi, Farah (11 June 2013). "Calm Before the Storm". Commonwealth Foundation. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  16. Rosario, Kennith (2 September 2016). "Translation is the noblest failure: Jerry Pinto". The Hindu.
  17. Maitreya, Yogesh (1 September 2018). "'When I Hid My Caste': Baburao Bagul's short stories were steeped in his ideologically vibrant youth". Scroll.in.
  18. Jha, Aditya Mani (19 April 2026). "Susham Bedi's magnum opus 'The Fire Sacrifice' offers a deep dive into the NRI experience". mint. Retrieved 22 June 2026.
  19. "Dancing queen of Bombay cinema : The Tribune India".
  20. Staff writer (17 February 2013). "The Hindu Literary Prize goes to Jerry Pinto". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  21. "'Popular choice' ruled at book awards". The Times of India. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  22. "Nine writers win Yale's $150,000 Windham-Campbell Prizes". Yale News. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.