Ursula! Ursula! Ursula! Goddess of American letters, look away from the flash #NBAwards pic.twitter.com/NQpYtZnCWA — Heather McCormack (@HuisceBeatha) November 19, 2014

On November 19, notables from the literature world gathered at Cipriani's Wall Street restaurant, in New York City, to fête the winners of the 65th annual National Book Awards, sponsored by the National Book Foundation. Children’s literature and young adult authors were present and decked out in their shiny best, including Ursula Le Guin, who accepted an award for her distinguished contribution to American letters and stole the show with her rousing speech, during which she torched Amazon for its pricing dispute with Hachette Publishing, defended science fiction writers, and was quoted as saying:

“We need writers who remember freedom.”

Watch her rousing speech on YouTube.