According to Aimee Chipman, owner of The Bluestocking Bookshop, a Holland Literary Festival has been a long time coming.
For years now, Bluestocking has hosted a Holland writer group—a place for local authors to gather, share their work, and provide one another with feedback on their writing. However, this year, Chipman and the rest of the Holland Lit Fest team (including Jason Gillikin, executive director of the Lakeshore Literacy Foundation) decided it was finally time for Holland to connect writers and readers in a big way.
Bluestocking relocated to 12330 James St, Holland, MI 49424 over Labor Day Weekend 2025: a space large enough to host events and an outdoor strip large enough to host a lit fest. “We had this group of people who were potential authors to feature,” Chipman shared, referring to those from the writer group. And now, since the relocation, Bluestocking also has the perfect space to feature them. Earlier this year, the Lit Fest team also opened applications for local authors to participate in the festival. They received a staggering number of applicants (over 150 and counting). The team narrowed down the applicants to 75 local authors; 98% of whom are from Michigan.
The goal of the Holland Literary Festival is to bring readers and writers together as well as create a fun, family-friendly event for the Holland community. The Lit Fest will take place on September 12, 2026, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm outside the Bluestocking Bookshop.
Whether you’re shopping for a picture book for your niece, a thriller for your sister-in-law, or a fun beach read for the summer, you’re in luck: the Holland Lit Fest will feature every genre. Jean Davis, author relations, said it was incredibly important that the festival be a balanced event. Davis also shared that the festival will feature many indie authors. (Indie, or independent, authors are writers who have either self-published their work or published through a small press house—so they maintain the rights to their work.) Thus, the Holland Literary Festival team is excited to shine a spotlight on lesser-known names.
The choice to feature many indie authors was a response to what the Lit Fest planning team has been hearing from readers. “For the most part, social media is moving toward indie spaces anyway. That’s what we’re trying to prove primarily because the traditional publication artists shifted a good amount; it’s just different. So, we’re noticing what people like,” Benjamin Kamphuis, community partnerships and marketing, explained.
Attendees will also be happy to know that the festival is free to attend. However, be sure to bring cash, card, or Apple Pay to shop and stockpile your TBR (To Be Read) list.
The Herrick District Library is happily supporting Holland’s first Lit Fest. Library team members will be in attendance and will host a children’s scavenger hunt and other kid-friendly events.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read Lakeshore (a program that encourages community members to enrich their lives and way of thinking through literature) will have representatives leading a discussion panel at the Holland Lit Fest. The Big Read is organized by and hosted at Hope College. Each year, the NEA Big Read selects various books for readers of different ages and provides correlating discussion questions, programs, and other resources to foster critical thinking, community engagement, and literary delight. Those interested in the book selected for this year can check out the titles here.
Great Lakes, Great Read will also be present at the Holland Lit Fest. The group will have a booth with representatives available to chat about their “one book, one community” program and their mission to connect the Michigan community to the Great Lakes through reading.
Aside from meeting 75 local authors, attendees can expect author panels representing a variety of genres as well as a few author readings. Panels and readings will be held inside Bluestocking Bookshop.
For those looking for kid-friendly entertainment, there will be a family-friendly kid zone featuring coloring pages, activities, children’s book authors, and young adult authors all concentrated in one area.
Those who don’t like to shop on an empty stomach will be pleased to know that two food trucks will be present for the event. There will also be live music.
Dutch Village, conveniently located at the entrance of the strip mall, has also agreed to provide the first 100 festival attendees with free passes to the park. Additionally, the first 200 Lit Fest shoppers will be gifted a free tote bag!
Events such as a local literary festival not only financially support local authors, but they also offer the reading community something that buying from a big-box store or from Amazon never can: human interaction. “You get to meet… and actually connect with the authors, ask questions, or [learn] the secrets of the story and all the fun things,” Jean Davis explained.
“You’re directly impacting the authors, not a large business,” the team’s volunteer coordinator added. “It brings the human aspect in, too. You actually get to meet the people.”
Benjamin Kamphuis said that for him, a book festival encourages readers to branch out and explore genres they might not have otherwise experienced.
Diana Duell, editor, has also helped pull the Holland Lit Fest together. While the rest of the planning team is comprised of authors and booksellers, Duell’s unique perspective comes from her love of reading. “People ask me why I am such a big supporter of the local author community,” Duell explained. “You have favorite artists… and you’ll buy their painting. I’m just buying [the author’s] art, which is in book form.” Duell is famed for bringing a large wagon to book festivals. “I usually fill it,” she admitted. It’s because of devoted supporters like Duell that many local authors get to do what they love.
Overall, the Holland Lit Fest team is excited to create an opportunity to spread joy, build community, and celebrate literature.
When reflecting on the power of reading, Aimee Chipman put it this way: “When you are experiencing the same story as somebody else and being able to share those perceptions in book clubs, even the online spaces where readers are discussing, that’s a thing that people really seem to need right now, because we are all so divided and individualized.”
Literature is a window into new perspectives, a bridge to understanding, and an invitation into conversation. Reading offers both a deeper knowledge of self and a broader knowledge of others. The Holland Literary Festival will celebrate all that literature has to offer.
“It doesn’t matter what you read as long as it’s something you love… as long as it’s something that holds your attention and you are passionate about it, you will learn something from it,” Aimee Chipman said. It just might be that your next favorite novel is waiting for you at the Holland Lit Fest on September 12th, 2026.
Jade Havenaar is a Holland native and a life-long lover of the lake, coffee, and a good book. She’s a former middle school teacher and a published author. After marrying the boy she met in a bar and traveling the US together, she and her husband welcomed their first born and Jade happily added “boy mom” to the list of hats she wears. When she’s not writing or changing diapers, she’s probably out adventuring with her Golden Retriever, Henry.
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