Suzanne Edison

Suzanne Edison is from St. Louis, Missouri. She holds an MA in psychology and dance from Antioch University and an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. Suzanne moved to the PNW in the mid-70’s after college. She was a therapist and movement educator for years and always pursued writing on the side. When her daughter developed a rare, autoimmune disease, she turned her focus full time to writing, caring and advocating for her child. For the past 10 years she has been teaching writing to parents whose kids live with chronic health issues, at Seattle Children’s Hospital and has also taught writing to teens living with ongoing health issues, at Odessa Brown clinic. Currently, she teaches a writing workshop at Richard Hugo House. Suzanne’s chapbook, The Moth Eaten World, was published in 2014. She lives with her husband, daughter and two cats in Seattle, under an ever-changing sky.

Suzanne received 2017 GAP Award funding to expand the awareness, understanding and conversations about autoimmune disease itself. This project will challenge me to write a series of poems that can help bridge the language of the patient, caretaker, scientific, and medical communities. As the mother of a daughter with a rare autoimmune disease, Juvenile Myositis, she has been writing and publishing poems based on our journey for the past 10 years. This unique project explores how healthy immune systems are supposed to function, and the emotional, social, and medical impacts of genetic misdirections that cause the body to attack itself.

Artist Trust thanks the Amazon Literary Partnership for underwriting this award through Artist Trust’s Corporate Partnership program. For information about supporting Washington State artists, visit here.