What do we do when the world feels unbearably heavy—and no one is coming to save us?

To kick off Season 16 of Everything Happens, Kate Bowler sits down live with beloved author and truth-teller Anne Lamott for a luminous, funny, and deeply honest conversation about shame, joy, faith, aging, love, and what it means to keep showing up anyway.

Recorded in front of a packed house at the historic Carolina Theatre in Durham, Kate and Anne talk about the shame that follows us from childhood, the relief of putting down our armor, and the small, ordinary acts of love that still matter. This is a conversation for anyone who feels tender, overwhelmed, skeptical of easy answers—and still hungry for hope.

Show notes:


Anne Lamott on Substack


Pre-order Joyful Anyway by Kate Bowler


Tour dates & tickets:katebowler.com/joyfulanyway


Watch the live conversation on YouTube


Kate Bowler on Substack: katebowler.substack.com


Anne Lamott


Bird by Bird


Operating Instructions


Traveling Mercies


Good Writing (with Neil Allen)


Maggie Smith, "Good Bones"


Naomi Shihab Nye, “Gate A-4”


William Blake, “We are here to learn to endure the beams of love”

What do we do when the world feels unbearably heavy&mdash;and no one is coming to save us?
To kick off Season 16 of Everything Happens, Kate Bowler sits down live with beloved author and truth-teller Anne Lamott for a luminous, funny, and deeply honest conversation about shame, joy, faith, aging, love, and what it means to keep showing up anyway.
Recorded in front of a packed house at the historic Carolina Theatre in Durham, Kate and Anne talk about the shame that follows us from childhood, the relief of putting down our armor, and the small, ordinary acts of love that still matter. This is a conversation for anyone who feels tender, overwhelmed, skeptical of easy answers&mdash;and still hungry for hope.
Show notes:
<ul>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://annelamott.substack.com/">Anne Lamott on Substack</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">Pre-order </a><a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">Joyful Anyway</a><a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/"> by Kate Bowler</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Tour dates &amp; tickets:<a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/"> </a><a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">katebowler.com/joyfulanyway</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Watch the live conversation on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@katecbowler">YouTube</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Kate Bowler on Substack: <a href="https://katebowler.substack.com/">katebowler.substack.com</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Anne Lamott
<ul>
<li data-list-indent="2" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/bird-by-bird-some-instructions-on-writing-and-life-anne-lamott/7937cf657650025e">Bird by Bird</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="2" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/operating-instructions-a-journal-of-my-son-s-first-year-anne-lamott/5b9cd2e80ae8cbc9?ean=9781400079094&amp;next=t">Operating Instructions</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="2" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/traveling-mercies-some-thoughts-on-faith-anne-lamott/6d42353bd52d63fc?ean=9780385496094&amp;next=t">Traveling Mercies</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="2" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/good-writing-36-ways-to-improve-your-sentences-anne-lamott/921b9366b288f170?ean=9798217046959&amp;next=t">Good Writing</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/good-writing-36-ways-to-improve-your-sentences-anne-lamott/921b9366b288f170?ean=9798217046959&amp;next=t"> (with Neil Allen)</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Maggie Smith, <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones">"Good Bones"</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Naomi Shihab Nye, <a href="https://poets.org/poem/gate-4">&ldquo;Gate A-4&rdquo;</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
William Blake, &ldquo;We are here to learn to endure the beams of love&rdquo;
</li>
</ul>

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.

Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media https://lemonadamedia.com/

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.
Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media <a href="https://lemonadamedia.com/" data-stringify-link="https://lemonadamedia.com/" data-sk="tooltip_parent">https://lemonadamedia.com/</a>

Honest conversation about life's less-shiny moments.