Ahmet Zappa

I've always wanted to have a book published - it was a dream of mine, but the thought of actually writing a book made me feel really sick.

I would ask my parents something, but then go to my siblings. We were encouraged to bounce ideas off everyone.

I think what my father appreciated was the science experiment of life. He had these kids, and they had their own experiences. He wanted us to discover the world for ourselves.

Although I write to entertain, and try to keep my work free of didacticism, I do have a rather passionate belief in our need to be connected to - and to learn from - history.

My feeling for reality TV isn't ironic, guilty, or apologetic. Reality TV is one of the few remaining modes of popular entertainment in which characterization is permitted as plot.

I think it's obvious that democracy is something that is contagious, and it always has been.