Postman whose morning rounds inspired him to write children’s books can have a ‘whole plot mapped out’ after a shift

A postman who moonlights as a children’s author wrote the plot for his first book on a red delivery card after being inspired by the names on an envelope.

Ben Davis, 39, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, has been a postman for 15 years.

Originally aspiring to be a stand-up comedian, Ben took the job after graduating from Nottingham Trent University, thinking it “wouldn’t be for long”, but it turned out to be a perfect job for his writing passion.

Ben has always loved writing, and as a child he was often found in the Tamworth library reading or writing stories. A career as a postman – notoriously a job filled with walking, driving and delivering – might seem contrary to that of an aspiring writer, but Ben found that his postie rounds held all manner of inspiration for his craft.

In 2010, aged 24, Ben was delivering to the house of someone he went to school with when he was struck by inspiration for a story to tell.

He noticed his father’s name on an envelope, while the envelope beneath it by chance had the name of a woman who shared a surname with the school bully.

“I thought, imagine if that happened at school — your divorced dad started going out with your enemy’s mum!,” Ben told PA Real Life of the spark of inspiration for a story.

Ben wrote the idea down on a red delivery card and began writing that evening, realising that it would make a perfect book for teenagers.

It took four years for his first book, The Private Blog Of Joe Cowley – a narrative of a 14-year-old boy’s secret blog in which he navigates the trials and tribulations of being a teenager – to be published by Oxford University Press, but it was a dream come true for Ben.

“I was really surprised when I ended up getting published as I didn’t know anyone in the industry,” Ben said.

“I didn’t think I’d be a children’s author, but it’s been amazing to turn a hobby of mine into something of a career.

“If I was a single man, maybe I could write full-time, but I’ve got a wife and two kids so I need to have that baseline job so I can pay for Fortnite skins and all the rest of it!”

Since then, Ben has written 15 books and won multiple awards, including the Sheffield, Derbyshire and Warwickshire Children’s Book Awards.

His most successful book, 2020’s The Soup Movement, is about two children who meet in a cancer ward and decide to help homeless people by cooking soup.

Still, Ben continues to find inspiration in his everyday rounds.

He says that the idea for 2022’s My Dad Is Definitely Not A Crime Lord came from being chased by a swan while delivering a parcel: in the book, the kids become vigilantes and one of their tasks is to clear off a swan.

Ben says he has been compared to the British author Anthony Trollope (1815-1882), who worked for the Post Office, waking up early to write before starting his shift.

“Our books are a little different, though,” Ben admits, though he says he too wakes early to write before starting his shift at 7.30am.

“I tend to get up at six and write while it’s still quiet and the kids are asleep, then I’ll write when I get home from work too.”

He says that being a postman is a great job for an author.

Though there are bad days when people are rude or the weather’s bad, he says that generally it is not stressful and since he finishes at 2pm, he has plenty of time in the afternoons to write.

He also finds that walking a lot helps his ideas develop and form.

“I let my mind wander and often when I get home from work, I have a whole plot mapped out in my head,” he says.

“When people say they have writer’s block, I always tell them to go for a walk.”

He admits the job has its drawbacks, however – not least that the sense of community has diminished in recent years, as the size of his round has increased so he doesn’t have time to chat to people as much.

“But you do become part of the furniture and generally people are very nice,” he says.

Though Ben still finds inspiration on his rounds, he is finding his nine-year-old son a greater source, picking up on snippets of conversation and happenings in his classroom.

In 2022, he started a TikTok account to promote his books, under the handle @bendavis_86, though he was disappointed to realise that his promotional videos did not perform.

Still, he has grown a 22,000-strong following from videos about his life as a postman, drawing on his roots as a stand-up comic.

Ben continues to write for young people, and though his first book was for teenagers, he is currently enjoying writing for nine to 12-year-olds.

“It’s a nice happy medium. The books can be a bit meatier than those for younger kids, and can deal with weightier subjects without being too preachy,” he said.

“Plus, there’s more room for fun.”