Fiction is more than escapeous. It can be a mirror, a door, a call to action, sometimes all at the same time. The finalists for the National Book Award for Fiction followed the lives of housing complex riskants. Black American artists abroad and the young queer immigrant during the Great Recession. Spending the globe from modern day Afghanistan to suburban Long Island. These characters chase after authentic community. And their stories serve as a reminder that we are all personally and collectively searching for freedom. The panel chair for this year's National Book Award for Fiction has been founded, the author of Billy Lin's Long Half-Tide Walk, a 2012 finalist for the National Book Award. Thank you, Keonnie. I look forward to meeting you someday. Tracey Hall and Art Spiegelman, after listening to your speeches my heart was full to bursting. And they made me think of my father. He was an educator of the old school. And the first thing he would do when he arrived at a college campus was go see the head librarian and say, whatever you need tell me and we will get it for you. So here's to the library's librarians everywhere. He didn't think very much of comic books, however. So sorry Art. There are the basic facts of this year's Fiction Award, five judges, five months, 463 books. Judging the National Book Award for Fiction this year was a challenging job by any measure. And I want to thank and commend my very fond fellow judges for their excellent work. They are Brandon Hobson of Los Cruces, New Mexico. Pam Houston of Creed, Colorado. Dana Johnson of Los Angeles. California. And Michelle Malonzo of Phoenix, Arizona. These judges are as fun a group as I've ever worked with. You brought to the job the highest standards of diligence, thoughtfulness and seriousness. And approached every book with the kind of open mind and generosity of spirit that all writers hope their work will be judged with. It has been a genuine pleasure and honor to work with you. I also want to thank your spouses and my own wife Sharon for putting up with four or five or ten or twelve deliveries from UPS and federal express per day for having several rooms in the house that looked like the overstock warehouse for books a million. For being patient when books turned up in the laundry under the sofa cushions among the boxes of cereal are pretty much anywhere else you can imagine a book wandering off to. For five months our lives were basically taken over by books and if at times we were a bit weary or found ourselves sliding into a full blown freak out those times were more than made up for by the discoveries. The pleasure of encountering a novel or short story connection collection by first time author that absolutely knocked us flat or new work on established writer that showed the freshest kind of inventiveness and curiosity. So let me anybody within the sound of my voice if Ruth Dickie ever calls you up and ask you to be a judge for the National Book Awards say yes. I haven't regretted it for a second and neither will you. So we started with 463 books and now we are down to five extraordinary finalists. Many of these are debut authors. Another author is being honored for what is only his second book and another finalist has been a powerful force in American letters ever since publishing her first book in the 1970s. The finalists for the 2022 National Book Award in fiction are Tess Gunnty for the Rabbit Touch published by Alfred A. Knopf Penguin Random House. Gail Jones for the Bird Catcher published by Beacon Press. Jamil John Cochai for the haunting of Haji Hotaq and other stories published by Viking books Penguin Random House. Sarah Thungam Matthews for all this could be different. Published by Viking books Penguin Random House and Alejandro Verrela for the Town of Babylon published by Astra House of Astra Publishing House. This year's National Book Award for fiction goes to Tess Gunnty for the Rabbit Touch. I was so convinced that there was no way this could happen. I did not prepare a speech. But the one thing I did do was read my fellow shortlistees and I first want to thank them for putting their work out into the world. I've been thinking a lot about what Sharon Old said yesterday about how we've been preparing to put forth action for the good and that's why we don't have to be afraid. When I think about everyone else on this list, that's what each of those books accomplished as different as they may be. They attended to those who are structurally neglected and the humanized experiences that are not visible normally. So I want to thank them for putting their books into the world and everyone who helped them do that. I also want to thank my team, my agent Duval, who is here from the beginning for her brilliance and her courage. And thank you to my editor, John Freeman of Knotz. And thank you to everyone at Knotz and the National Book Foundation for putting this night together. I truly believe that attention is the most sacred resource that we have to spend on this planet. And books are perhaps one of the last places where we spend this resource freely and where it means the most. And so everyone here tonight, thank you for everything you've done to put books out into the world and to promote justice. And I think kindness wins. I think that's the point of this evening. Love wins. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.