diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index afb87fedf5..f5ea1ede88 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
 .. _changelog:
 
+0.59.1
+------
+
+Renku ``0.59.1`` is a bugfix release that improves stability and performance with renku notebooks when under heavy load.
+
+Internal Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+**Improvements**
+
+- **Notebooks**: Use gevent methods in notebooks api (`#1996 <https://github.com/SwissDataScienceCenter/renku-notebooks/pull/1996>`__).
+
+Individual Components
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+- `renku-notebooks 1.27.1 <https://github.com/SwissDataScienceCenter/renku-notebooks/releases/tag/1.27.1>`_
+
 0.59.0
 ------
 
diff --git a/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt b/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt
index 0b4a298299..c180ea1dee 100644
--- a/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt
+++ b/docs/spelling_wordlist.txt
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ findable
 Fortran
 Frontend
 gapped
+gevent
 git-lfs
 githooks
 github
diff --git a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml
index f800651ec3..a8de45596e 100644
--- a/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/renku/templates/notebooks/statefulset.yaml
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ spec:
             - name: NB_K8S__SESSIONS_NAMESPACE
               value: {{ .Values.notebooks.sessionsNamespace | quote }}
             {{ end }}
+            - name: NB_K8S__BYPASS_CACHE_ON_FAILURE
+              value: {{ .Values.notebooks.bypassCacheOnFailure | quote }}
             - name: NB_K8S__RENKU_NAMESPACE
               value: {{ .Release.Namespace | quote }}
             - name: NB_SESSIONS__GIT_PROXY__RENKU_CLIENT_ID
diff --git a/helm-chart/renku/values.yaml b/helm-chart/renku/values.yaml
index ce5033349d..2d5769a9ad 100644
--- a/helm-chart/renku/values.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/renku/values.yaml
@@ -983,7 +983,7 @@ notebooks:
     targetCPUUtilizationPercentage: 50
   image:
     repository: renku/renku-notebooks
-    tag: "1.27.0"
+    tag: "1.27.1"
     pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
     ## Optionally specify an array of imagePullSecrets.
     ## Secrets must be manually created in the namespace.
@@ -1012,6 +1012,7 @@ notebooks:
   ## If left null then sessions will be launched in the same namespace
   ## as where the chart is installed.
   sessionsNamespace:
+  bypassCacheOnFailure: false
   sessionAutosave:
     ## Any file higher than the minimum will be added to LFS
     minimumLFSFileSizeBytes: 1000000
@@ -1101,15 +1102,15 @@ notebooks:
   gitRpcServer:
     image:
       name: renku/git-rpc-server
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
   gitHttpsProxy:
     image:
       name: renku/git-https-proxy
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
   gitClone:
     image:
       name: renku/git-clone
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
   service:
     type: ClusterIP
     port: 80
@@ -1162,12 +1163,12 @@ notebooks:
     sessionTypes: ["registered"]
     image:
       repository: renku/renku-notebooks-tests
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
       pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
   k8sWatcher:
     image:
       repository: renku/k8s-watcher
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
       pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
     resources: {}
     replicaCount: 1
@@ -1179,12 +1180,12 @@ notebooks:
   secretsMount:
     image:
       repository: renku/secrets-mount
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
   ssh:
     enabled: false
     image:
       repository: renku/ssh-jump-host
-      tag: "1.27.0"
+      tag: "1.27.1"
       pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
     resources: {}
     replicaCount: 1
diff --git a/helm-chart/values.yaml.changelog.md b/helm-chart/values.yaml.changelog.md
index bb7064242f..756465bed9 100644
--- a/helm-chart/values.yaml.changelog.md
+++ b/helm-chart/values.yaml.changelog.md
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ For changes that require manual steps other than changing values, please check o
 Please follow this convention when adding a new row
 * `<type: NEW|EDIT|DELETE> - *<resource name>*: <details>`
 
+## Upgrading to Renku 0.59.1
+
+* NEW ``notebooks.bypassCacheOnFailure`` has been added. Setting this to false prevents renku-notebooks to call
+  the k8s api directly if its k8s cache has issues or is not running.
+
 ## Upgrading to Renku 0.57.0
 
 * DELETE ``gateway.image.auth`` has been removed.