Live from Stratford Literary Festival: Kit de Waal on Friendship, Fear & Finding Freedom

In this live episode of Hurt to Healing, Julia Samuel is joined by acclaimed author and advocate Kit de Waal for a powerful conversation about friendship, fear, and the patterns we inherit from childhood. With her signature blend of candour and compassion, Kit opens up about the painful unravelling of a close friendship and how it stirred echoes of her early life — growing up with a strict Jamaican Jehovah’s Witness father and a fiery Irish Catholic mother. She reflects on the emotional survival tactics that shaped her, the fierce loyalty of her siblings, and the way fear and secrecy became part of her emotional DNA.

Together, Julia and Kit explore the complexities of trust, identity, and repair — what it means to rewrite the stories we were raised with, and how we begin to parent and connect differently. From Kit’s teenage rebellion and escape from a rigid religious upbringing to her work in social care and advocacy for marginalised voices, this is a conversation about resilience, rupture, and growth. 

Find Kit:

Website: https://www.kitdewaal.com/

Instagram: @kitdewaal

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