John Biguenet and Justin Nystrom, Ph.D., both professors in the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences at Loyola University New Orleans, have been named “People to Watch” in New Orleans Magazine. The annual survey of new notable figures in New Orleans was featured in the September issue of the magazine.

For more than 35 years, Biguenet, the Robert Hunter Distinguished University Professor, has been teaching literature and creative writing classes at Loyola. An avid writer and winner of the 2012 Louisiana Writer Award for lifetime achievement, he was recognized by the magazine for his recent accomplishments, including the completion of two new plays in the past year. 

Past president of the American Literary Translators Association, Biguenet is the author of “Oyster,” a novel, and “The Torturer’s Apprentice: Stories,” both widely translated. He also penned the plays “The Vulgar Soul,” “Rising Water,” “Shotgun” and “Night Train,” which were produced by Southern Rep and other theaters to wide acclaim. In the next year, he’ll have five plays produced around the country, including his trilogy of plays on a flooded New Orleans, which will run next spring in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans.

Nystrom, an assistant history professor and the newly-appointed co-director of the Center for the Study of New Orleans at Loyola, has been researching oral histories of New Orleans, focusing on local groups and places, Italian groceries, the port and more.

After helping to organize the inaugural NolaLoyola event in 2011, Nystrom has played an integral role in planning NolaLoyola 2012: Beats of the Streets—The Brass Band Tradition in New Orleans, which takes place on Friday, Sept. 28. The author of “New Orleans after the Civil War,” Nystrom is also currently working on a new book, “Creole Italian,” due out in late 2013. He recently finished his first film, “Haus of Memories,” a documentary about the Deutsches Haus, which was bulldozed last year in Mid-City.

For more information, contact Jess Brown in Loyola’s Office of Public Affairs at jlbrown@loyno.edu or 504-861-5882.