October: Book Club Pick & Studio Visit with Kate Bowler

Join us for Studio Visits

A monthly conversation series about the creative process, hosted by Suleika Jaouad. Learn from extraordinary artists as they share stories, failures, wisdom and instruction.

For our upcoming Studio Visit, Suleika will be hosting a virtual conversation with the New York Times bestselling author, professor, and incurable optimist Kate Bowler on Sunday, October 31 from 1-2 pm ET.

Kate Bowler 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. At age 35, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, causing her to think in different terms about the research and beliefs she had been studying. She penned the New York Times-bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved), which tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character. Her second memoir, No Cure for Being Human, just came out this week and is our October Book Club pick.

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Full of wisdom and refreshing humor, Kate Bowler’s No Cure for Being Human grapples with the simple truth of our limited agency and our finitude. And while there’s no cure for the chronic condition of life on Earth, she does give us hope for solace—in the joys of living and the love of other humans.

“With grace, wisdom, and humor, Kate Bowler encourages us to cut back on self-help Kool-Aid and teaches us what it means to be human.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again

“Kate Bowler has paid through the nose to become a writer of uncommon spiritual wisdom, coupled with an amazing sense of humor and a heart full of love. She fills me with hope.”—Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author of Dusk, Light, Dawn

“In a culture that asks us to constantly strive and improve, Kate Bowler recognizes that our own pain is neither an aberration nor an opportunity but a fact of life. There is nobody on earth who sees our humanity quite like Kate Bowler.”—Nora McInerny, creator and host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking

“Those in need of a wake-up call will find it in this breathtaking narrative. . . . Bowler’s strong faith is present throughout, though the writing, refreshingly, never feels overtly religious. . . . Her convictions underscore the importance of living life on one’s own terms.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)