Edna Worthley Underwood was born in January 1873 in Maine. The Worthley family moved to Arkansas City, Kansas when Underwood was 11 years old.

Underwood was able to translate 14 modern languages, including Spanish, German, Russian, Portugese, Japanese, Arabic, Dutch, Sanskrit, and "Persian" (Farsi), as well as ancient Latin. She attended Garfield University in Wichita, KS, and the University of Michigan.

In August of 1897, Underwood married Earl Underwood of Bedford, Iowa. The Underwoods would eventually move to Kansas City, Missouri and then to New York City, New York.

Underwood was known as one of the first Americans to translate poems and stories from Russian, Spanish, and Portugese poets and writers in South America. Most of her well known works came from these translations, such as Song of Hafiz (1917), Anthology of Mexican Poets (1937), several anthologies from Slavic and Spanish-speaking poets, and Tu Fu, Wanderer and Minstrel Under Moons of Cathay, translated with Chi-Hwang Chu (1937).

Besides translation, Underwood also produced several original works. Her novels comprise The Whirlwind (1918) and The Passion Flower (1924), and her nonfiction works include Songs of the Plains (1917) and The Taste of Honey: The Notebook of a Linguist (1930).

Underwood returned to Arkansas City, Kansas in the Spring of 1952. She died March 14, 1961 in Winfield, Kansas.

[Information gathered from Craine, Carol Ward. Mrs. Underwood: Linguist, Littérateuse. Literature series no.4, Hays: Fort Hays University, 1965; and collection materials.]