[applause] my name is justin desmangles. I am the chair of the before Columbus Foundation. About eight years ago i proceeded in that position, our founder, ishmael reed, we are very fortunate to have with us joining the program today. There were some very big shoes to fill. Of course, i want to thank our friends at the San Francisco jazz center who had been so generous in their support of the american book awards for the last several years. Also our friend at cspan who continue to support the Historical Mission of the before Columbus Foundation and american book awards. I will say a few things about our direction that we embarked on recently. Over the past several years we have expanded our programming to include a number of partnerships in the bay area and nationally, including those with the San Francisco Public Library who i am very honored to say, one of the representatives, stuart shaw who has been instrumental facilitating the collaboration between the before Columbus Foundation
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