Writers at Lunch: Nina Burleigh

Join us at the gorgeous Seminary Hill Cidery in Callicoon for a lively conversation between veteran journalists Nina Burleigh and Ilya Marritz, focussing on Burleigh's debut novel, Zero Visibility Possible, that draws on her long career in journalism and the particular moment in which America, and the world, finds itself in.

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When fact is stranger than fiction, fiction can be truer than alternative facts. At the center of the worst mass shooting in US history is a black hole. Why did a wealthy, white middle-aged man who liked guns and gambling and once worked for the U.S. government cause this public tragedy? Set over three days in 2017, a small group of journalists is tasked with witnessing and making sense of senseless mass violence as the truth-telling structure collapses. They struggle with malleable facts, disinformation, and conspiracy theories; they are lured by and resist the increasingly popular notion of a hallucinatory mirror world, the sense that important truths are hidden.

Also on offer: a seasonal menu and draft ciders for those wanting to join us for lunch.

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Nina Burleigh is a journalist, best-selling author, documentary producer, and publisher of a substack on politics called American Freakshow. A contributing editor at The New Republic and frequent contributor to the New York Times and New York Magazine, her journalism has been published widely including in translation in the Norwegian and Italian press. She's the author of eight books on an array of topics including archaeological forgery, scientists in 18th Century Egypt, James Smithson, Amanda Knox in Italy, and the Trump women, which were reviewed, excerpted or covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, New York Magazine, BBC, ABC, MSNBC, and other media outlets. She was born and educated in the Midwest, has been based in Washington, D.C., New York, Norway, Paris and Italy, traveled and reported extensively in the Middle East. An adjunct professor at NYU's Arthur J. Carter Journalism Institute, Google Scholar says her work has been cited in hundreds of scholarly articles.

Ilya Marritz is a reporter who covers threats to democracy for ProPublica and Trump legal matters for NPR from upstate New York. He co-hosted “Will Be Wild,” an audio documentary about the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021 and “Trump, Inc.” an investigative podcast from ProPublica and WNYC that won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton Award. He also was host of “The Season,” a podcast about efforts by Columbia University’s struggling football team to make a comeback. A longtime public radio journalist, his work has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Time, The Daily News and New York Magazine. He previously worked as a senior reporter for WNYC in New York covering technology, Wall Street, real estate, retail and small business. His stories have been finalists for the Loeb and IRE awards. He is a Nieman Fellow 2024, and a past recipient of a Richard Holbrooke reporting grant.

Event Venue

Seminary Hill Restaurant, 43 Wagner Lane, Callicoon, United States