i mentioned my wife and her full name is megan manale. 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 re