Laurie Fenlason Media Relations Director T (413) 585-2190 F (413) 585-2174	Office of College Relations Smith College Garrison Hall Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 www.smith.edu/newsoffice

September 25, 2001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAGGIE EDSON-THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN TEACHER TO WIN A PULITZER PRIZE-WILL SPEAK ABOUT WRITING AND LITERACY AT HER ALMA MATER ON OCTOBER 11 HBO production of Edson's 'Wit' to be shown the night before NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-Margaret Edson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Wit," will return to speak at her alma mater at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, in Sweeney Concert Hall, Sage Hall. Edson's presentation, titled "The Insubstantial Pageant: Orality, Literacy and Writing for Performance," is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible. "Wit," described variously as an "unsentimental," "intricately layered" and "fiercely literary" drama about a professor of 17th-century English poetry battling ovarian cancer, earned rave reviews and played to sold-out Off-Broadway audiences. It received the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1999, as well as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and was named the best new play of the 1998-99 season by the New York Drama Critics' Circle. The HBO production of "Wit," starring Emma Thomson, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, in Wright Hall Auditorium. The public is welcome, and there is no admission charge. Edson majored in history at Smith, graduating in 1983. A first-time playwright who has said she has no interest in writing more plays, Edson wrote "Wit" in 1991 when she was working at a bicycle shop. It is based on her experiences as a clerk in the cancer and AIDS units of a Washington, D.C., hospital. Edson earned a master's degree in English literature at Georgetown University, where she defended her thesis on the use of poetry to teach reading by performing a rap number by Queen Latifah. Since 1998, Edson has taught kindergarten in the Atlanta public schools; it is the job of which she says she is most proud. "Reading and writing is power," Edson told People magazine in 1999. "I like handing that power over to students." Immediately following her talk, Edson will sign copies of "Wit" at the Smith College Club. -30-

News Release Directory // News Office Home Page // Smith College Home Page

© 2001 Smith College // Please send comments to: webmaster@smith.edu.
Page maintained by the Office of College Relations.