The Barrow Podcast

Mum and I take a look at coming-of-age novel The Mercy Step, shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize and written by Marcia Hutchinson.

You can find Marcia on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/marxia1

Check out Marcia's website here: https://marciahutchinson.co.uk/

Purchase The Mercy Step today: https://afroribooks.co.uk/products/the-mercy-step-by-marcia-hutchinson-1?_pos=1&_psq=the+Mercy+Step&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

I read to Mum the short story 'A Man in the Way' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of Fitzgerald’s many Pat Hobby stories following the exploits of a drunken Hollywood hack. Enjoy! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

Following up last week’s outrage, Mum & I talk about my experiences of tertiary education, both as a student and as a teacher and lecturer at supposedly one of the most prestigious institutions in the world…  Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

In this previously unreleased recording, Mum & I sat down to discuss the current state of education, which has become a crisis of incompetency and excuse-making. Things get heated and I try not to have another nervous breakdown… Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

I read to Mum the short story 'Acceptance of Their Ways' by Canadian writer Mavis Gallant. Enjoy! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

Mum & I are on Substack. Become a subscriber today by going to thebarrowpod.substack.com.

If you haven’t signed up yet, what are you waiting for? 🤷‍♀️📚🤷‍♂️ 

✅ Exclusive readings from our memoir-in-progress 📖

✅ Bonus episodes 🎙️

✅ Field recordings 🎤

✅ Subscriber-only blogs✍🏼

✅ Access to our group chat, as well as to our full archive 🏛️💬

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

Mum and I get into the decline of the arts and the value shift that was occurring around the time I went off to university in 2007. We discuss my first relationship, as well as notions of dependency, obligation, and intellectual and emotional class. Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

This week, I speak to Canadian photographer Emily Doyle about her rural upbringing, developing her photography practice, and how she navigates the current freelance and art worlds. For anyone interested in connecting with Emily, please see the links below.

Find Emily’s website here: https://www.abigailandemilydoyle.social/

Follow Emily Doyle on Instagram: instagram.com/emmilymadeline 

Check out Emily’s portfolio and latest works: https://www.abigailandemilydoyle.social/portfolio  

Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

Mum and I discuss emotional brutality and my difficulties transitioning from high school to university, when I began to retreat into self-ridicule and shutdown, as well as my inability to process the suicide of a close friend. Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

This week, I sit down with author Patrick Michael Finn to talk about gritty New York memoir A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints by writer, musician and filmmaker Dito Montiel. 

Follow Dito on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ditomontiel/ 

Purchase Patrick’s novella A Martyr for Suzy Kosasovich: https://www.csupoetrycenter.com/books/a-martyr-for-suzy-kosasovich 

Check out my earlier episode on Jim Carroll’s The Basketball Diaries: https://youtu.be/6Kf1EY1d4IU 

**A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints was published in 2003 by Thunder’s Mouth Press, an imprint of now defunct Avalon Publishing Group Incorporated.

**A Martyr for Suzy Kosasovich was published in 2008 by Cleveland State University Poetry Centre. 

Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod

Mum & I are giving you free access to another two reading episodes from behind the paywall. These episodes are for paying subscribers only and are exclusive to Substack. If you like what you hear and want to follow along while we write our book, then become a subscriber today by going to ⁠⁠thebarrowpod.substack.com⁠⁠. Thanks for listening! ☺️🙏

Don't forget—  

You can watch every episode of The Barrow Podcast on our YouTube channel. Become a subscriber and get notified with every new upload:  http://www.youtube.com/@TheBarrowPod 

Follow us on— 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebarrowpod/ 

X (Twitter): https://x.com/thebarrowpod 

For those wanting to support our show and bring Mum & I one step closer to achieving our goal of completing the memoir and getting it published, you can— 

1/ Rate & review the podcast in whatever app you're using. 

2/ Spread the word using the hashtags #thebarrowpod and #motherandsonmemoir. 

3/ Consider making a donation. All contributions will go back into production costs: https://buymeacoffee.com/thebarrowpod