Mumbai-based critically-acclaimed writer Jerry Pinto is among the 24 authors named for the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award 2016 for his book Em and the Big Hoom.

Pinto has been a mathematics tutor, school librarian, journalist and a columnist and is now associated with child rights NGO Meljol.

Set in Mumbai, Em and the Big Hoom is a gripping story of a dysfunctional family, The Hindu reported. The novel, published in 2012, had also won the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize.

Pinto had won the National Award for the best book on cinema in 2007 for his book Helen: The life and times of an H-Bomb. -- Agencies