EDITH WHARTON (1862-1937) was an American writer and designer. In 1921 she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for her novel The Age of Innocence. Her other highly acclaimed works include The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, and The Custom of the Country. An adept writer across many genres, in her lifetime Wharton produced eighteen novels, seven novellas, and eighty-five short stories, as well as poetry, books on design, travelogues, literary and cultural criticism, and an autobiography.