How can we communicate when things are painful? Is it possible to connect across generational differences? How can parents and teenagers have real, honest conversations?
In this candid and unique discussion, nurse-turned-bestselling-author Christie Watson and her daughter Rowan Egberongbe explore the challenges of talking about mental health across generations.
When Rowan was sixteen, she only tolerated communication from her mother in the form of Snapchat. Desperate to be closer to her daughter, Christie sent daily selfies of her face superimposed onto a chicken nugget. It took serious illness for them to finally talk – and truly listen.
Rowan’s mental health struggles revealed the chasm between their generations. They started being more honest with each other than they had ever been before: discussing identity, race, gender and neurodivergence; opening up about disordered eating and self-harm; navigating the perils of social media.
In an age of polarisation, this is how a mother and daughter find humour in the things that divide them and become more hopeful about the future of our world.
No Filters: A Mother and Teenage Daughter Love Story is a book for all parents and teenagers going through a tough time, and for friends, grandparents, teachers and healthcare professionals who want to help. Its bare honesty will have you laughing – and possibly crying – out loud as it shows that you are not alone.
Programmed by the National Centre for Writing for Norwich Science Festival, presented by The Forum
I loved this book and I know it will help many families during difficult times.
Christie Watson & Rowan Egberongbe
Christie Watson is Professor of Creative Writing at UEA and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. She has written eight books, including Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which won the Costa First Novel award, and nursing memoir, The Language of Kindness, which became a number one Sunday Times bestseller. Christie is a contributor to the Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph and TedX. Her work has been translated into twenty-three languages and adapted for theatre. Killing Me Softly, her latest novel, is out March 2026.
Rowan Egberongbe wrote this book between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. She is now studying Classics at university and spent the summer volunteering in Borneo.
It made me cry, laugh and hug my daughter extra tightly.
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