Joyful, Anyway

by Kate Bowler

The bestselling author and Duke University professor discovers the true magic of it appears when we least expect it—and even if we don’t feel happy, we can be joyful, anyway.

Life aches. Joy is the cure.

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 5-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere. A lemur sunbathing. A belly laugh at a funeral. A dive into the Atlantic with a shark wrangler.

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—feel more—by making room for small extraordinary moments. 

For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is achy 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 Is this it? Joy will there is more.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Self Help

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 7, 2026

About the author

Kate Bowler, PhD is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and a professor at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. She is the author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel and The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities.

After being unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, she penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and her latest, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). Kate hosts the Everything Happens podcast where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Lamott about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family and continues to teach do-gooders at Duke Divinity School.

Reviews

[Richard Propes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always believed in the white picket fence.

I was in my early 20s when, over the course of a year, it seemed as if I had lost everything a human being could lose.

My wife died by suicide not long after the death of our newborn, Jennifer.

Not long after, I lost both of my lower legs due to infection and, quite honestly, a lack of self-care.

Finally, my already fragile finances fractured and I found myself living in my car.

After a childhood with spina bifida and years of childhood sexual abuse, I was broken. Yet, my own suicide attempt failed.

So, I wheeled. I wheeled and I wheeled and I wheeled. I wheeled for 41 days and over 1,000 miles on an event I called "The Tenderness Tour" because, after all, tenderness was what I found myself looking for and I knew it would take 1,000 miles to find it.

I found it. I returned from that first Tenderness Tour convinced that the old tapes that playing throughout my life were lies and that there was a reason I was still alive.

I began to believe in the white picket fence. I began to believe in my good life.

I returned from that first trip, there have been 35 since, and I began slowly assembly the puzzle pieces of my life in an effort to build what I considered to be my good life.

Alas, there was no white picket fence.

I never remarried. I never had another child. I never became "happy," whatever happy means. I kept living. I kept wheeling. I built a better life with a good job, good projects, a tapestry of friends and family of choice.

I thought of all of this often throughout Kate Bowler's "Joyful, Anyway," Bowler's latest journey that weaves together personal testimony and academic excellence to explore the surprising magic of joy to carry us through the exhilarations and exhaustions of love and those often unbearable tensions that exist when we experience trauma or pain or loss or grief or illness or any other of life's inevitable benchmarks.

For many of us who read nearly everything Bowler writes, myself included, we already know that Bowler survived a stage-four cancer diagnosis. Having survived cancer twice myself in the past three years (bladder, prostate), I ache with familiarity as Bowler shares these stories just as Bowler herself ached knowing that she should be grateful and yet such an experience also leaves you longing for even more.

Now then, if you know Bowler's writing you know that this longing did not result in toxic positivity or some miracle plan or a journey into prosperity theology. Instead, it became an openness to the everyday simple experiences of joy.

"Joyful, Anyway" isn't about fixing one's life. It's also not about some faux denial-based joy that calls us into simply letting go of our traumas and our dramas. "Joyful, Anyway" is more about learning how to hold the door open for joy to surprise us so that we can live in the tension of a life where we experience everything and refuse to surrender our joy.

It has been 35 years since that first Tenderness Tour. Even being alive defies logic, though I'm not quite prepared to call it miraculous (especially after reading "Joyful, Anyway."). Life has turned out so extraordinary that a feature documentary recently had its world premiere about The Tenderness Tour and my current efforts to eliminate medical debt for others.

I've lived a life far beyond anything I've ever imagined.

Yet, there are still certain tense truths that continue to radiate throughout my physically difficult life filled with significant health issues, few natural supports to speak of, and a social awkwardness that I find both hilarious and embarrassing. Bowler, whose public persona is one of frequent laughter and deep compassion, exudes what I can only describe as an honest humanity and a rich tenderness throughout "Joyful, Anyway," a book where Bowler peels away the layers of her own existence to share with us that awkward tension that sometimes breaks us and other times resurrects our souls.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Kate Bowler's best book yet. My word for 2025 is Joy, and this book gave me a lot to meditate on. She shares academic, spiritual, personal, and even crowdsourced insights on what joy is and how to find it in everyday heartache (big and small). I plan to give this book to several friends and get a hard copy for myself!

[Rally · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 (good)
I found this book to be relatable and full of emotions. It was full of down to earth humaness. Which I very much appreciated. I loved that this is not a book to make you feel great! It is one that shows you that even in times where people say you cant find joy or happy it can still be possible. The chapters were sbort and pretty simple but that many times is just what you need when you are in a tense time and looking for something, That little bit of hope.
I feel this book will help some out there and even if it dont it is great to get to know this author and hear some of her story.

[Mhughessc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best-selling author Kate Bowler has released her newest book, "Joyful, Anyway." In her new book, Bowler describes her life as a cancer survivor and how she has turned to joy as a lifeline. She refers to her former psychiatrist/therapist who prescribed her "all the joy in the world" and goes on to define joy according to researchers, the grief-stricken, and kids. Finally, she asserts that the best way to be more joyful is to "make a list. Keep it small. Ask for help"

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Nicole Newell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate Bowler's newest book isn't a book that is telling you how to be happy, but is telling you that you can feel joy in any situation. This book reminds you to find the small moments to be grateful for even when you're feeling like it's you against the world. While this wasn't my favorite book, I did enjoy it and will make time for the smallest moments to be thankful for.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kristy W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one, more than her last one. Kind of a memoir, kind of self-help, very thoughtful, very genuine. She had some great stories (mostly about hospitals and doctors), and an awesome story about accidentally spending the day with Tom Holland the historian not the actor (I’m a fan). Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This part self-help, part memoir was full of short chapters and lists, all about how to recognize and seek out joy even when things are really, really hard. I love listening to Kate Bowler talk on podcast interviews, and this little book reads just like she talks.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Chrisdee]

Part memoir and part self help, Kate has very human moments with us on finding joy in tough times. I enjoyed the transparency of her parts on family, spirituality and self discovery. The reflections quickly became my favorite piece of this book.

*I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review*

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Kate Bowler’s writing, and her new book is no exception. This one’s focus on joy feels timely and important. I definitely felt like this is a message I needed, and I think others will too, especially since it focuses on joy versus the ever-popular toxic positivity.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the review copy.

Pub Date: April 7, 2026

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate Bowlers latest, Joyful Anyway, is a little bit memoir, a little bit self help, and gives you a lot to think about. It is full or stories and quotes and lists that the author has collected in her latest project, her search for Joy in her life. I found myself identifying with her chronic pain, and although I have never struggled with a fatal cancer diagnosis, thank goodness, the reality of going through something traumatic one day and then quickly falling into everyday life was something I think most of us can related to.

I found this book, like all of them that I have read, both enjoyable and thought provoking. It reminds me that pretending to be happy does not work, but perhaps opening myself up to find joy during the routine of every day will. Joy is not exclusive from pain, but can even exist at the same time, but we can be so busy rushing from thing to thing or focusing on our pain and distress that we never notice the small joys.

Thank you to net galley and Random house for this e galley for review.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

*thanks to the publisher for the early copy!

a helpful map for finding moments of joy amidst the suffering of the world and of our lives, chronic illness sufferers especially.

[Ayelet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate is always such a joy!!

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, warm exposition of joy even in the darkest of times.