Biography

She was awarded the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play "Wit".

Edson has known her longtime romantic partner, Linda Merill, since they met as undergraduates at Smith College. They have two sons together.

The play for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, "Wit," was her first (and, as of mid-2011, her only) play. At the time of its writing and first production (the late 1990s), Edson was an Atlanta-area kindergarten teacher; in the early 2010s, she is a sixth-grade teacher at Inman Middle School in Atlanta (though the name of the school was changed to David T. Howard Middle School in 2020).

Graduated from the Sidwell Friends High School in Washington D.C. in the late 1970s. She was the commencement speaker at the Class of 2003's graduation.