it will come to bear here to present the national book award for fiction is layla lila me. if you lease the two names together. i am running on fumes here folks. i have a good run. it was a finalist for the pulitzer prize in fiction. she is currently a professor of creative writing at the university of california. help me welcome to the stage the illustrious layla alameda. [music] i'm thrilled to be here tonight with so many poets, writers and critics and readers and book people. book people are my people think you all so much for being here i want to thank them. the fantastic job of organizing the award ceremony. when lisa asked me to chair the fiction panel she warned me that there would come a time where about in the middle of the summer when we would be diluted with books and i would be very angry at her the time never came. i also wanted to acknowledge this years fiction panel which have the monumental task of reading 360 books my judges and i have many spirited directions. we reach consensus and we were very proud of this year's list so thank you to my fellow judges [