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Amy Bennett Williams Essays
Fridays @ 8:45am

Amy Bennett Williams touches our hearts each week with a special essay. From the beauty found in Southwest Florida to heart-warming stories of family, friends and neighbors, her essays take us around our community and often into our past. Her essays extol the beauty found in the commonplace objects and places – and are delivered with a touch of tenderness. Williams is a long-time writer for The News-Press who started emptying ashtrays and writing obits and now has the coolest job title she can imagine: Storyteller. She's also author of the pictorial history book, "Along the Caloosahatchee" and is at work on another. She and her husband, Roger, also a writer, live in rural Alva with their two sons and way too many animals.

Latest Episodes
  • Following up on an old, but not forgotten tip, News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams recently traveled to the historic Ortona Cemetery in rural…
  • As Sunday marks Father’s Day, and just before the official start of summer, this week’s encore essay from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams…
  • The return of the summer rainy season has provided a reprieve from dangerous drought conditions, but also heralds the return of thick swarms of mosquitos.…
  • In this week’s encore essay from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams, she recalls several months spent caring for a rather charismatic specimen…
  • In consideration of the factors that create one’s sense of place, it can be easy to overlook one powerful characteristic: the smells. In this week’s…
  • Southwest Florida’s recent bout of dry windy weather has left vegetation and many creek beds dry and created dangerous drought conditions for fire crews…
  • In his seminal work, “The Immense Journey,” author and anthropologist Loren Eiseley penned the often cited quote:“If there is magic on this planet, it is…
  • Any long-time reader or listener of News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams knows that her rural Alva homestead contains a motley mix of animals…
  • For the past few months, we've heard about our neighbors to the north struggling with great snowstorms and bone chilling temperatures. It serves as a…
  • For our neighbors to the north, these' winter months are typically associated with things like freezing weather and snowfall, but here in the subtropics…