As a journalist, Nancy Klingener has been the face of the Miami Herald’s Florida Keys bureau and helped launch the Keys bureau for WLRN, South Florida’s public radio station — reporting on local topics and piloting a blue bicycle dubbed her “mobile news vehicle.” She’s a former news editor for local papers, including the former regional magazine Solares Hill. She’s currently a contributing writer for the Keys Weekly.
Yet despite those credentials, today Klingener derives her greatest satisfaction from another career entirely. During periodic breaks from journalism, she pursued her passion for library work, both with the Monroe County library system and the local college.
Since 2022, she’s been the community affairs manager for the Monroe County Public Library. She manages its communications and social media from her Key West office, and is deeply invested in raising awareness of the library system’s remarkable range of activities and offerings.
Klingener’s ongoing projects include updating and expanding the websites for both the library and its associated Florida Keys History Center — whose content now includes maritime and admiralty court records, ancestry information, a huge photo archive, early island diaries and the popular “Today in Keys History” column.
She’s also president of the Key West Literary Seminar’s board of directors and helps guide the annual gathering of world-renowned writers and literature lovers.
Klingener is married to writer/photographer and birding enthusiast Mark Hedden. Their family includes canine companion June, whom she describes as “pretty goofy — half German shorthaired pointer, half pit bull and all mush.”
Upbeat and easygoing, Klingener recently sat down with Keys Weekly to discuss her winding career path, enjoyment of new challenges and continued affection for her island home.
Library system’s wide-ranging offerings. CAROL SHAUGHNESSY/Keys Weekly
some years ago. MICHAEL BLADES/Contributed
Why did you choose Key West as your home? I came to Key West in February 1991 as a reporter for the Miami Herald. I had already been with the Herald for almost two years, and then there was an opening in the Keys bureau. The Keys bureau was famous for the amazing stories that came out of here. It was an incredible place to really learn reporting.
I applied for grad school in ’91 or ’92, and then I had this amazing epiphany — which was that the best thing I could hope for would be a good job at a good newspaper in a good place. And I was like, “Wait, I already have those things.” So I took the money I’d been saving up for grad school and made a downpayment on a condo on Fleming Street.
What’s the most compelling story you covered for the Herald? Probably the 1994 Cuban Rafter Crisis, when there were thousands of people coming on actual rafts or tractor tires that were bound together with ladders and risking their lives to go out into the straits. It wasn’t quite the Mariel boatlift, but it was very intense.
How did covering athlete Diana Nyad’s epic swim from Cuba to Key West lead to a new journalism opportunity for you? I left the Herald in 2000 and bounced around some. At some point, I started freelancing essays to WLRN. On Labor Day in 2013, they said, “Diana Nyad’s going to make it. Can you report on it for us — and for NPR, the national network?” I really didn’t know anything about audio recording or production, but I went out there and was like, “Oh, wait, I’m not over journalism. This is actually kind of fun.” So that eventually led to me starting the bureau here for WLRN. They and I both thought they should have a Keys bureau, and we came up with the proposal for it.
What’s involved in your job with the Monroe County Public Library? I manage the website, social media accounts and all that stuff. We redid our whole website about a year ago, and continuing to find ways to make that appealing and useful for people is a fun challenge. But truly, my mission is that everybody in Monroe County should know what the library can do for them, because it’s so much.
With your professional credentials, you could live and work practically anywhere. What keeps you in Key West? It’s a small town that’s never boring. We have access to so many events, and we have great theater and great restaurants. I’m not one of those people that gets rock fever; I’m very happy in a tiny habitat. I love being able to walk or ride my bike for just about anything — I don’t like driving — and I love that, when you walk the dog, you see people along the way and you’re like, “Hey, what’s going on?”
Speaking of walking the dog, how would you describe your dog June? She’s a total coward. She’s the most submissive dog you’ve ever met. If you’re walking her and you encounter a Chihuahua or a teacup Yorkie, she will lie down and roll over, which is embarrassing. But it’s a lot easier than having an aggressive dog, so I’ll take it.
