John Biguenet
John Biguenet is the author of “Oyster,” a novel, and “The Torturer’s Apprentice: Stories,” as well as four other books, and his plays have been widely produced. Biguenet’s radio drama WUNDMALE was br... Read more
John Biguenet is the author of “Oyster,” a novel, and “The Torturer’s Apprentice: Stories,” as well as four other books, and his plays have been widely produced. Biguenet’s radio drama WUNDMALE was broadcast on Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Österreichischer Rundfunk. Two of his stories have been featured in Selected Shorts at Symphony Space on Broadway. THE VULGAR SOUL won the 2004 Southern New Plays Festival and was a featured production in 2005 at Southern Rep Theatre. His play RISING WATER was the winner of the 2006 National New Play Network Commission Award, a 2006 National Showcase of New Plays selection, and a 2007 recipient of an Access to Artistic Excellence development and production grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Big Easy Theatre Award for Best Original Play. SHOTGUN, the second play in his RISING WATER trilogy, received a National New Play Network Continued Life of New Plays Fund Award and an Access to Artistic Excellence development and production grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2009. He was awarded a Marquette Fellowship for the writing of his next play, NIGHT TRAIN, which he then developed on a Studio Attachment at the National Theatre in London. Biguenet was named 2008 Theatre Person of the Year at the Big Easy Theatre Awards. His work has received an O. Henry Award and a "Harper's Magazine" Writing Award among other distinctions, and his stories and essays have been reprinted or cited in "The Best American Mystery Stories," "Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards," "The Best American Short Stories," and "Best Music Writing." He has served twice as president of the American Literary Translators Association and as writer-in-residence at various universities, including his position as the Robert Hunter Distinguished University Professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. Named its first guest columnist by "The New York Times," Biguenet chronicled in both columns and videos his return to New Orleans after its catastrophic flooding and the efforts to rebuild the city.