Jerry Pinto – Award winning English author best known for ‘Em and the Big Hoom’

Jerry Pinto is an award winning English writer and journalist based in Mumbai. He is also a journalist, related to magazine journalism by profession. His first novel ‘Em and the Big Hoom’ released in 2012 won him multiple awards including Sahitya Akademi awards, Crossword Book Award 2013 and The Hindu Literary Prize 2012 and Windham–Campbell Literature Prizes 2016. His biography about Bollywood actress and dancer Helen – Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb (2006) won National film awards for Best Book on Cinema.

Jerry Pinto is of Goan origin and was brought up in Mahim, Mumbai. He completed his law studies in Mumbai before starting a career in the field of journalism. He has served as Consulting Editor at Man’s World magazine. Surviving Women (2000) is his first published book. He published his first collection of poems – Asylum and Other Poems in 2003. He co-authored Leela: A Portrait with Leela Naidu in 2009. He came to limelight after he won National film awards for Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb (2006). His writings include both poetry and biography works. He also writes children’s fiction.

Jerry Pinto – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He had a long-term relationship with Shanta Gokhale, theatre critic after her two divorces. Shanta is the mother of Renuka Shahane and mother-in-law of Ashutosh Rana, and both are Bollywood actors.

2. He spent three years chronicling the rise of Bollywood screen icon Helen who appeared in more than 500 films, and finally released it as book, Helen – Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb.

3. His book “Murder in Mahim” has been adapted for a movie/web series.

4. Graphic novels, filmy writing, children’s fiction translations and a full-length novel – he has dabbled in different genres of writing and tasted success.