daniel handler. [applauding] >> good evening, fellow literary nerds. my name is daniel handler. welcome to the national book awards. known to the world as some random day on november the 19th. why do i always leave things to the last minute. what is wrong with me. while the rest of the world marches through like james patterson, we gather for a night described as being about the oscars if nobody gave a ship about the oscars, but we do. for us this is pretty glam. at first glance we might look like the 1 percent, but that is just neil and myself look beyond our relatively glitzy exteriors and you will find people who have forsaken in mainstream culture. we choose to live in a quieter but broader world. where else can we sit in a room and asked the question, without receiving the answer tonight we have the recognition of the world. deluged with congratulatory messages and telegrams. the nominated offers. michael jordan thinks the nba for everything it has done for the game. i'm assuming he's talking about narrative prose. allow allow me to offer my support and enthusiasm for all t

daniel handler is the host this evening, and is also know as lemony snicket. there's david steinberg on the red carpet. is chairman of the national book foundation which sponsors these awards and is also president and ceo of the perseus publishing crew. we talked to him a little bit earlier. and as we continue to talk to some of the finalists in the nonfiction category, want to introduce you to anand gopal was one of the finalists as well, "no good men among the living." congratulations on your finalist status. >> thank you very much. >> how did you approach your book? what was your approach to? >> well, you know, there's a lot of books out there that delve into policy, and what struck me traveling in afghanistan was more so the human stories. it taught me so much about the conflict. might approach was tried to relate that to the reader and the stories that you don't get to hear about. >> what is one of your stories? you have three people in your book? >> one is a commando in it in my reporting and he described to me how he joined the taliban, why he joined th

this shows that the publishing industry lacks racial sensitivity and author roxanne tweeted, daniel handler'sfew people are talking about it. handler tweeteded the next day, my job at last night's book awards was to shine a light on tremendous writers, including jacqueline woodson and not to overshadow their achievements with my own ill-conceived attempts at humor. i clearly failed and i'm sorry. you took to social media demanding he put his money where his mouth is. today handler tweeted, let's donate to we need diverse books to celebrate jackie. i'm in for $10,000 and matching your money for 24,000 up to $100,000. we need diverse books promotes cultural diversity. >>> now someone you never thought you'd see in reality until perhaps the end time, philly jesus. michael grand of philly started dressing like jesus in april after kicking a drug habit. #phillyjesus started trending. he tweeted about a solicitation arrest, haters going to hate. in the actual world of jesus, in the world hates you, keep in mind he had hate med first. you're not happy about it like, just heard my man got booked for