garson was awarded an obie for "the dinosaur door" and a special commission from the new york state council on the arts, for the creation of plays for younger audiences. she has received a guggenheim fellowship, a national endowment for the arts fellowship, a louis m. rabinowitz foundation grant, the new york public library books to remember award and library journal's best business books of 1989 award, and a macarthur foundation grant for reading and writing.