The Noepe Center for the Literary Arts, housed at the Point Way Inn in Martha’s Vineyard, is closing, the Martha’s Vineyard Times reports.

The Center, founded and directed by Justen Ahren since 2007, has hosted over 1,000 writers-in-residence, workshops, readings, and events, which have featured Geraldine Brooks, Billy Collins, Jennifer Clement, Junot Díaz, Fanny Howe, Marie Howe, David McCullough, Naomi Shihab Nye, and many other writers. Claudia Miller owned the Point Way Inn before she handed it over to various arts organizations, including The Noepe Center.

“She thought the space was being underutilized, and had approached me to see if I had any ideas for what could be done in the shoulder seasons,” Ahren explained. “I had recently finished grad school and had just come back from a residency in Costa Rica. I wanted to see if I could replicate something like that on the Vineyard.”

The inn, which was built by a 19th-century sea captain, will be sold, and The Noepe Center will need to find a new location.

“It’s a little bittersweet,” Ahren told the Vineyard Gazette. “What it became in the 10 years was more than I had ever hoped it would be. It accomplished everything and more than I thought was possible. That’s the sweet part. The bitter part, at least this season, is that we won’t be able to offer the continued support to writers.”

Ahren told the Gazette that he doesn’t think he’ll find another location quite like the inn, but that he was glad to have had the opportunity.

The Noepe Center’s mission is “to provide established and emerging writers with time and space to create, and the resources and community to support, encourage and inspire writers at all stages of their writing career.”

Photo Credit: Mark Lovewell.