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Stephen Grant was laid off from his job at a boutique marketing agency in March 2020, right when COVID took the world hostage. 

Newly diagnosed with cancer, he needed health insurance, fast — plus, he was the primary financial supporter of his wife and daughters. Which is how he found himself becoming a mail carrier, back in his hometown in rural Appalachia. 

It was a tough transition. Grant was bad at his job — “deeply incompetent,” he writes in his new memoir, “

.” He is shaken by his lack of real-life skills, by his inability to feel at home in the mountains where he grew up, by his uncertainty in what it means to be in community during a time of isolation. 

But “Mailman” rarely lingers on the malcontent. Instead, what Grant learned about himself, his fellow Appalachians and our country as a whole propel his new book. He joins host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to share stories about working as a rural mail carrier, about blue collar versus white collar work, and about the overlooked importance of public service in a fractured nation. 

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When Steve Grant lost his job during the pandemic, the only replacement he could find was delivering mail in his hometown. But being a letter carrier revealed things about who he was and how he fit that he never could have expected.

What being a mailman taught Stephen Grant about work, belonging and going the extra mile

Combined image. On the left is a beige book cover with the title "Mailman" and a drawing of a car. On the right is a headshot of a man by a lake in the winter.

What being a mailman taught Stephen Grant about work, belonging and going the extra mile

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