Passion is the essence of the soul, the saying goes, and writing is the soul speaking. To write something worth sharing, and to then talk about it in a room at the public library, is the essence of the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition. The brainchild of Bay Area poet Eileen Malone and the National League of American Pen Women, a dozen writers — published poets and authors, winners of artists' grants, teachers, and struggling pen-masters just like you — from across the country sponsor prizes in categories encompassing fiction, poetry, and prose in multiple forms. The contest draws entrants nationwide, who vie for a top prize of $100. No huge payout, maybe, but the right to re-enter the same piece or publish it elsewhere is yours, as are the feedback and fellowship garnered from spending an afternoon with like-minded writers. Not everyone can pen odes on Grecian urns or on the first stanzas of a translation of Homer, but then again, Keats never declaimed his verse in the Koret Auditorium.

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