Though not alphabet, the soup that flowed at the Whidbey Island Writers Association annual meeting satisfied a crowd that appreciates the written word.

The Northwest Institute of Literary Arts (NILA), parent organization for the association, hosted the event recently at Whidbey Pies Café at Greenbank Farm.

The program for the evening included a social hour of networking with other writers, editors and NILA board members, a dinner featuring the café’s local specialties and drawings for literary door prizes.

Outgoing board president David Powers received a special thank-you gift, a book about Whidbey Island written by local author Rick Lawler, and handed over the reins of the organization to incoming president Allan Ament.

New board officers were introduced, including treasurer Nancy Ruff, secretary Larry Cheek and vice president Don Haynes.

NILA is made up of four programs that serve writers. Originally founded in 1998 as Whidbey Island Writers Association, in 1999 the group created the Whidbey Island Writers Conference. In 2005, the association went on to found the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program.

NILA was later created to be the managing body for all three programs. A fourth program, Soundings Review literary magazine began publishing in 2008.

At the meeting, the four program chairs shared accomplishments and plans for events such as: Writers Lockdown Weekend, which took place in October at the Captain Whidbey Inn in Coupeville; a social media and marketing class series ongoing through the fall; and the schedule for the 2012 writers conference, which will be held in Langley March 3 and 4.

A $15,000 grant received this year from Amazon.com is helping NILA expand further programs geared to prepare writers for the “next big thing” in the literary and publishing worlds.

NILA invites all writers and lovers of literature to join in supporting the literary arts on Whidbey by joining WIWA, attending classes, enrolling in the MFA program, registering for the conference and subscribing to Soundings Review.

For those interested in making a place in the literary world, there are also opportunities available to help with conference and event planning and with publishing the magazine.

The organization has just launched a new website. Visit www.nila.edu to learn about the MFA program, submit work to Soundings Review and join the association.