Jerry Pinto (born 1966) is an Indian English poet, novelist, short story writer, translator, and journalist based in Mumbai, India. 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, 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 in 2016 for his novel Em and the Big Hoom.
Early life
Jerry Pinto was born in Goa, India. He is a Roman Catholic and of Goan origin. He grew up in Mahim, Bombay. Pinto received a liberal arts degree from Elphinstone College, University of Mumbai, and a law degree from Government Law College, Mumbai.
Career
Pinto' 2006 book about the Indian actress Helen titled The Life and Times of an H-Bomb, went on to win the National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema 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 Mumbai and Time Out Delhi) to edit their special projects. He is now a freelance journalist, writing articles for the Hindustan Times and Live Mint newspapers, as well as The Man and MW
In 2009, he coauthored Leela: A Portrait with Leela Naidu, 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.
His first novel, Em and the Big Hoom, was published in 2012, and won The Hindu Literary Prize that year. It was also shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize.
He has translated several books from Marathi to English including Cobalt Blue, Baluta, When I Hid My Caste and I, the Salt Doll.
Bibliography
- Surviving Women. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-14-028715-9.
- Bombay, meri jaan: writings on Mumbai, with Naresh Fernandes. Penguin Books, 2003.
- Asylum and Other Poems. (Poetry in English). Allied Publishers India., 2003. ISBN 81-7764-527-7
- Confronting Love, (edited with Arundhathi Subramaniam ) . (Poetry in English). Penguin Books India., 2005. ISBN 0-14-303264-X
- Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2006. ISBN 0-14-303124-4.
- Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa. Penguin Group, 2006. ISBN 0-14-310081-5.
- Bollywood Posters, with Sheena Sippy. Thames & Hudson, 2008. ISBN 9780500287767
- Leela: A Patchwork Life with Leela Naidu. Penguin Group, 2009. ISBN 9780670999118
- Em and the Big Hoom. Aleph Book Company, 2012. ISBN 8192328023
- Phiss Phuss Boom, with Anushka Ravishankar and Sayoni Basu. Illustrated by Vinayak Varma. Duckbill, 2013. ISBN 978-93-83331-08-6
- When Crows Are White, 2013. ISBN 9788184778571
- Monster Garden. Illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. Duckbill, 2016. ISBN 978-93-83331-26-0
- Murder in Mahim, 2017. ISBN 9789385755293
- The Education of Yuri. Speaking Tiger Books, 2022. ISBN 9789354472688
- Citizen Gallery: The Gandhys of Chemould and the birth of modern art in Bombay, 2022
Awards and honours
- 2007 National Film Award for Best Book on Cinema for Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb
- 2012 The Hindu Literary Prize winner for Em and the Big Hoom
- 2013 Crossword Book Award (fiction) for Em and the Big Hoom
- 2016 Windham–Campbell Literature Prizes (Fiction) for Em and The Big Hoom
- 2016 Sahitya Akademi Award for Em and The Big Hoom
References
External links
- Jerry Pinto's Website
- About Jerry Pinto and his poems Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Jerry Pinto's book of poems, Asylum, reviewed by Ranjit Hoskote
- Hindustan Times columns by Jerry Pinto.
- Live Mint: columns by Jerry Pinto
- The Hindu: One per cent writing and 99 per cent rewriting
- Windham–Campbell Prizes Website
