Sad Me of the Past Podcast
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Hello listeners, and welcome to another episode of Sad Me of the Past! The University of Iowa students have left Iowa City for the summer, and there are so many parking spots now! Today we have Steve Starring Grant, author of Mailman. Grant shares his journey from a storytelling-rich childhood in Blacksburg, Virginia, through his time at the Iowa Writers Workshop, to a lengthy career in marketing and behavioral economics. He reads from an early undergraduate story, reflecting on his development as a writer. The conversation culminates in how a pandemic-era layoff, cancer diagnosis, and unexpected job as a mail carrier in Appalachia inspired his memoir and reignited his creative voice.
Stephen Starring Grant is the author of MAILMAN: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home, a memoir that chronicles his year as a rural letter carrier after losing his marketing job during the pandemic.
Steve Grant has spent over twenty-five years as a marketing consultant and behavioral economist, working with Fortune 500 companies including IBM, Prudential, Jaguar Cars, and Burger King. He ran the Applied Behavioral Science Lab at Prudential and received a Gold Lion from Cannes for his brand strategy work. He served as an industry expert in financial security at the Aspen Institute and led the rebranding effort that transformed the Boy Scouts of America into Scouting America.
A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop with an MFA in Poetry and Fiction, Grant was part of the film collective that created the 1998 indie film THE DELICATE ART OF THE RIFLE. He lectured as an Adjunct Professor of innovation and consumer behavior for the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. Born in New Orleans and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, he is an Eagle Scout who returned to his hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia, where he lives with his family. He is an avid fly fisherman - and controversially believes that the New River may be the greatest Smallmouth Bass water on the planet.
