The Conversation: Kate Bowler

(Tuesday 28th April 2026)

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Joyful Anyway

The New York Times best-selling author and award-winning podcaster says: “I have been a professor at Duke University for twenty years, studying the stories we tell ourselves about our own health, wealth and happiness. And I’m on a mission to give us a friggin’ minute to be human.”

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. The Duke University professor, host of the Everything Happens podcast and author of No Cure for Being Human and Everything Happens for a Reason, and Other Lies I’ve Loved.

Chaired by Sam Wells.

The interview lasts for an hour followed by a 30-minute public Q&A, then book-signing and informal conversation.