Jerry Pinto (Poet, Novelist, Short Story Writer)

Jerry Pinto is a well known poet, writer, editor and translator. He has an LLB from Government Law College, Mumbai and a degree in the humanities from Elphinstone College. He has written Em and the Big Hoom, a novel that won him The Crossword Prize, the Hindu Lit for Life Award and the Sahitya Akademi Award. In 2016, he was awarded the Windham-Campbell Award for Fiction from Yale, USA. His next novel Murder in Mahim won the Valley of Words Award for Fiction. His third novel The Education of Yuri has just been published to near universal acclaim. 

Mr Pinto is also a translator. He has translated Daya Pawar’s path-breaking autobiography Baluta, Sachin Kundalkar’s debut novel Cobalt Blue, Mallika Amar Sheikh’s I Want To Destroy Myself, Ganesh Matkari’s Half-Opened Windows, Baburao Bagul’s When I Hid My Caste, Eknath Awad’s Strike A Blow to Change the World, Vandana Mishra’s I The Salt Doll among others. His translation from Hindi of Swadesh Deepak’s I Have Not Seen Mandu has been acclaimed. He is now working on Konkani Dnyaanpeeth award winner Damodar Mauzo’s next novel. His work in nonfiction is equally illustrious. He has won the National Award for the Best Writing in Cinema for his analysis of Helen, the Life and Times of a Bollywood H-Bomb. His latest book is a biography of Chemould Art, Citizen Gallery. He has also written books for children. Anya and Her Baby Brother and My Daddy and the Well were on the Parag Honours List. Mr Pinto has two books of poetry, Asylum and I Want a Poem and Other Poems. Mr Pinto sits on the boards of MelJol which works in the sphere of child rights and the People’s Free Reading Room and Library. He has taught journalism at the postgraduate Social Communications Media course of the Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai.

Three-day Structure (Advanced Writing Workshop)

Workshop Preparation :

Choose a chapter from the novel/non-fiction work you’ve been working on. (Or write it.) Select a short story. Or three poems. Send them in. The maximum word limit allowed is 5000 words.

Day 1 :

The workshop will begin with a general conversation based on the material that you have submitted.  We will get to know each other and formulate some ground rules, keeping in mind the ideas behind the crafting of spaces that are safe and conducive to creativity. We will set goals. You will also be given a writing prompt.

Day 2 :

On this day, we will look at the work generated by the writing prompt. The writing we do will be generally shared and we will all examine the material together.

Day 3 :

Individual attention time. You get 30 minutes of one-on-one time with Jerry Pinto. Sharpen those questions and make good use of the time.

The Himalayan Writing Retreat is built for writing and learning. We are rated 5-star on google and facebook.

Once here, you will be sharing a room with a fellow participant (unless we’ve confirmed a single). All essentials like food, hot water, towels etc. are provided. No hidden costs.

It can snow in winter. Weather can vary and the weather chart of Mukteshwar (12 km from the retreat) is here. A pair of sturdy walking shoes, some rain protection and an extra layer or two are always a good idea.

Our rooms are built to let nature in and inspire you. To see pictures of the rooms click here . To see pictures of the writing spaces click here.

Depending upon where you travel in from, you can reach us by road, train or air. Even if flying or taking a train, the final stretch is a drive, and the last 150 metres is a walk.

By Road

The retreat is a 370 km/9 hours drive from Delhi. If driving, we recommend you leave early. Note: Parking at the retreat is on the road, and we do not have any private parking. We’re a small property and cannot provide driver accommodation.

Overnight Volvo buses ply between Haldwani and Delhi, the more reliable of which are government operated. You can book those here. Private Volvos and Sleeper buses also ply between Delhi and Haldwani, which you can book on redbus. Make sure you pick a bus with a high (4+) rating.

By train

There are three trains a day from Delhi to Kathgodam, the nearest train station. Some others also come in from Kolkata, Lucknow and Dehradun. From Delhi, Ranikhet Express is a convenient overnight train both ways, but finding tickets can be difficult.

Most people prefer to take the Kathgodam Shatabdi (Delhi dep: 6.20 AM, Kathgodam Arr: 11.40 AM). A cab from Kathgodam to Satkhol takes about 2.5 hrs. Cabs are often shared by participants.

By Air

There are daily flights from Delhi to Pantnagar. A cab from Pantnagar to Satkhol takes about 3.5 hr.

There are direct flights from Mumbai and Bangalore to Bareilly 3-4 days a week. Satkhol is a 5hr cab ride from Bareilly. Cabs are often shared by participants.

1. Why should I choose HWR Workshops?   

Personal Attention: We don’t take more than 15 students in a class. You get a lot of personal attention and feedback. No classrooms of 20-30 people or one-way pre-recorded videos here.

Class Quality: For most courses, we filter our participants. You can’t just pay and sign up. We need to see a writing sample (in our application form) to ensure the class is of a uniform standard.

Cost per hour: Our courses are long and intense. As an example, the Creative Writing course is 18000 for 24 contact hours (3 days, 8 hours each day). The cost per hour = 750 / hour. That is comparable to many of the “cheaper” courses.

Quality of faculty: No lightweights here. Many of our faculty are award-winners. All are experts and great teachers. We don’t settle for average.

Feedback scores: Across courses, we are rated 4.5/5, or higher. You can read our reviews HERE.

2. Do I get a certificate of participation?

Yes, certificates are available on request.

3. Any discounts for students / other categories?

At the Himalayan Writing Retreat, we follow a strict No-Discount policy.

4. Is the workshop fee refundable?

Our cancellation policy is as follows:

For Physical Workshops:

• 100% refund (less 5% of total programme fee) on cancellation 40 days or more before the event start date.
• 50% refund if cancellation is between 20-40 days before start date.
• 0% refund if cancellation is less than 20 days before the start date.

For Online Workshops:

• 100% refund (less 5% of total programme fee) on cancellation 15 days or more before the event start date.
• 50% refund if cancellation is between 15 to 7 days before start date.
• 0% refund if cancellation is less than 7 days before the start date.

5. Is the Himalayan Writing Retreat a business or an NGO?

The Himalayan Writing Retreat is a social enterprise. It works closely and actively with two local NGOs in its community work initiatives: Chirag and Alaap. In 2020, HWR raised INR 6.1 Lakhs to support the Chirag School.

Have more questions? Feel free to write to us at info@himalayanwritingretreat.com or connect with us at +91 73035 16665 (call or WhatsApp).