JOYFUL, ANYWAY - with Kate Bowler

An evening of inspiration, laughter, and real talk with Kate Bowler and Dr. Vivek Murthy around Kate's new book - Joyful, Anyway!

Welcome to the JOYFUL, ANYWAY - Kate Bowler Book Tour happening at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church on April 16, 2026 at 7:00 PM (Eastern Time)! Join us for an inspiring evening as Kate sits down with former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy to discuss her latest book. Together they will explore the surprising ways joy can appear even in life’s hardest seasons, reflecting on how small moments of connection, humor, and wonder can carry us through uncertainty and longing.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Bestselling author and Duke University professor Kate Bowler reveals the surprising magic of joy—and how we can access it even when happiness feels out of reach. Joy won’t cure you, but it will carry you.

After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. She was alive. Blessed, even. But still she 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.

Witty and honest, in Joyful, Anyway, Bowler shows 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 or achy for meaning, who has been undone by loss, or who believes that joy is just out of reach and 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.

AUTHOR BIO

Kate Bowler is the four-time New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason; No Cure for Being Human; Good Enough; The Lives We Actually Have; Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day; Blessed; and The Preacher's Wife. She hosts the popular podcast Everything Happens and writes the Substack of the same name. A Duke University professor, she earned a master's of religion from Yale Divinity School and a PhD at Duke Univerity.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY BIO

Dr. Vivek Murthy served as the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States. As Vice Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, he commanded a uniformed service of 6,000 public health officers.

Dr. Murthy’s work has widened the lens through which we understand forces that shape our health and well-being. During his two terms as Surgeon General, his initiatives shaped national and international conversations, garnered global media coverage, and compelled change across business and non-profit organizations. He has drawn attention to critical, underappreciated health issues including the epidemic of loneliness, the impact of social media on youth mental health, parental mental health and well-being, the youth mental health crisis, and health worker burnout.

In 2020, Dr. Murthy published the New York Times best-seller Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. His 2025 “Parting Prescription to America” laid out a vision for rebuilding community as the key to health, happiness, and fulfillment.

Raised in Miami and an ardent lover of mangoes, Dr. Murthy graduated from Harvard College and received his MD from the Yale School of Medicine, and his MBA from the Yale School of Management. He trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. A renowned physician, public health expert, research scientist, entrepreneur, and author, Dr. Murthy lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Dr. Alice Chen, and their two children.