Joyful, Anyway by Kate Bowler

‘A deeply moving everyday masterpiece. I loved it’ Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
‘A delight from start to finish, Joyful, Anyway embodies the mix of pleasure and aching that makes us human’ Katherine May, author of Wintering

You can’t always be happy, but you can be joyful, anyway.

After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached – for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day. So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a five-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere.

In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain, boredom and longing.

This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more and feel more, by making room for small extraordinary moments. For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is aching for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful, Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we ask: Is this it? Joy will answer: there is more.

From Kate Bowler – multiple New York Times-bestselling author, professor, stage-four cancer survivor and host of the hit podcast Everything Happens – comes a warm, relatable guide to discovering joy, even when life feels impossible.

About the Author: Kate Bowler is the New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved), among other books. Her TED talk on the topic has over 9 million views to date. She hosts the popular podcast ‘Everything Happens’ and has previously appeared on NPR, Today, the New York Times, Washington Post and Time. Bowler is an Associate Professor of the History of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, Toban, and son, Zach.

09 Apr 2026
 

Joyful, Anyway: Finding Delight in Impossible Times by Kate Bowler ISBN 9781037202575