diff --git a/to-edn.nix b/to-edn.nix
index 738e675..ffde9f5 100644
--- a/to-edn.nix
+++ b/to-edn.nix
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
 
 with lib;
 let
+  isSymbol = str: isNull (match "^'.+" str);
+  stripQuote = head (match "^'(.+)");
+  parseStr = str: if (isSymbol str) then (stripQuote str) else ''"${str}"'';
+
   join-str = concatStringsSep " ";
   toEDN = ds:
     if isString ds then
-      ''"${ds}"''
+      parseStr ds
     else
       (if isInt ds then
         ds