ALMA — Alma College is proud to announce that Mary Peterson, a graduate of the inaugural class of Alma’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, has been awarded the first-ever Alma MFA Book Prize for her hybrid manuscript “Planting Onions: Letters Written Out of Season.” The work will be published by Running Wild Press in 2026.
Peterson’s manuscript grew from a discovery made after her mother’s passing: a box of more than 200 letters written by her father, a U.S. military veteran, during the Korean War. While the two were not especially close during his lifetime, Peterson said that encountering his words in real time, from the battlefield, allowed her to understand him in new and unexpected ways.
“This project turned what I thought was a final goodbye into an unexpected hello,” Peterson said. “I feel so connected to my dad now. The letters dissolved barriers of time and distance and opened space for me to reflect, respond, and write my way toward him.”
“Planting Onions” combines Peterson’s reflections and poetry with excerpts of her father’s letters. She began shaping the manuscript over the course of a year and a half, weaving together memory, narrative poetry, and responses to the letters themselves. Originally submitted as two separate entries — one focused on poetry, the other on the letters — the material ultimately came together as a single, unified work.
The title poem recalls one of the few memories she has of spending time alongside her father — planting onions together in their garden. The letters allowed Peterson to see her father not only as a parent, but as a young man caught in extraordinary circumstances — transforming her sense of who he was and the relationship they shared.
Sophfronia Scott, director of Alma’s MFA program, praised the work’s originality and depth. “Mary’s writing represents the best of what our program seeks to inspire — art that bridges personal history and broader human experience,” Scott said. “Her work is a worthy winner of the Book Prize contest, which drew several excellent entries. We’re grateful for our partnership with Running Wild Press and look forward to working together again soon.”
Benjamin White, acquisitions editor at Running Wild Press, said Peterson’s work stood out for its balance of personal history and broader resonance.
“Mary’s work has a sense of the shared human experience that creates universal emotional appeal, even though it is rooted in family situations and letters from an individual perspective,” White said. “That was the greatest appeal beyond the writing and the story — it connects the deeply personal to something larger. Readers don’t need to have lived her exact experience to understand it, and that is where true storytelling resides: in the ability to share human experience with and within a collective meaning.”
Peterson, who lives in Grand Rapids and often writes from a family cabin along the Au Sable River, said her time in Alma’s MFA program gave her both the confidence and community to pursue her work seriously.
“The program was one of the richest experiences of my life,” she said. “As part of the first MFA class, I felt the excitement of building something new together. I learned patience in the process, and I want other graduates to know: your Alma experience doesn’t end at graduation. Opportunities can come back around when you least expect them.”
Running Wild is a small press whose books have been named “Best of the Year” by the book review magazine Kirkus Reviews. For winning the award, Peterson received a publishing contract, as well as an up-front cash prize.
The Alma College MFA features a strong literature-based curriculum and offers inspirational and exploratory residency experiences designed to develop your ability to read and think critically and to write with a high level of artistic proficiency. For more information, visit alma.edu/mfa.
Mary Peterson (MFA ’23) is pictured with Alma College MFA in Creative Writing program director Sophfronia Scott.