{"id":272576,"date":"2025-12-02T14:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T03:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.russh.com\/?p=272576"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:56:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:56:05","slug":"zoe-terakes-book-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.russh.com\/zoe-terakes-book-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoe Terakes on their debut novel ‘Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers’, book that changed their life and favourite author"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are very few people who hold a truth as fierce and surrendered as the one Zoe Terakes carries. To encounter them, and exist in the orbit of that clarity, is its own rare privilege. Terakes is an artist whose performances range across both screen \u2013 in titles like Talk to Me<\/a>, Wentworth,<\/em> The Office, Ironheart, <\/em>and Nine Perfect Strangers<\/em> \u2013 and stage. As a writer, too, they channel that same precision and sensitivity that makes them so compelling in acting, but into worlds of their own making.<\/p>\n

When Terakes spoke to RUSSH<\/em> for our 20th-anniversary November issue<\/a> last year, there was a quiet mention of what was coming next. Today, those plans are coming into fruition. Terakes debuts Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers<\/em><\/a>, a bold, sensual reimagining of ancient Greek myths \u2013 stories carried through their Cretan heritage, and stories they always suspected contained more than the pared-back versions we were taught. In Terakes’ hands, these myths break open as queer, tender, furious, and imaginative stories. Gods walk beside mortals, bodies shift form, desire becomes both compass and catalyst. The result is stories vividly alive, hot-blooded, poetic, and sharp.<\/p>\n

Below, we speak with Zoe Terakes on their Cretan heritage that drew them to creating Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers, <\/em>their favourite author, and a book everyone should read at least once.<\/p>\n

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Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers <\/em>reimagines ancient myths through a queer, modern lens. What drew you to Greek mythology as a foundation for exploring queer identity and love?<\/h3>\n

Definitely my heritage. My family is from Crete, an island between Greece and North Africa<\/a>, with Southern Italy on the left and Turkey on the right. I have been drawn to the mythology of my people since I was really little. Queerness and transness are entrenched in the bones of these myths. But because our mythology has largely been documented by cis, heterosexual men, the queer and trans stories have been folded down, smaller and smaller, until it is almost impossible to see them at all. I made it my duty to excavate these stories, our stories, with the queer and trans experience at the forefront.<\/p>\n

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Many of the stories blur boundaries between gods and mortals, gender and form. What does divinity mean to you?<\/h3>\n

Divinity, like myth, is something I don\u2019t see as separate to us. I believe our Angels walk among us. I think all divinity, gods, monsters, are much closer to us than we think. I think there is actually much less space between myth and reality than we think, I believe that ancient myths play out around us all the time, for all time.<\/p>\n

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How did your experience as an actor influence your voice and rhythm on the page?<\/h3>\n

I actually found it quite helpful as a way to get inside the head of a character. Being an actor, to me, means focussing on the details of a person; where they sit in your body, where their voice comes from when they speak, etc. So being able to use that as a way in to the characters in my book was really helpful.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ve said Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers’<\/em> is inspired by your Cretan heritage. How did connecting with your ancestry influence the book\u2019s creation?<\/h3>\n

Well, I think it just made the space between myself and what I was writing about almost non-existent. For instance, the first story in the book tells the myth of Iphis, a young trans boy living in ancient Crete. Living inside a story that is so old, yet almost uncannily relatable, was pretty magic. I definitely feel closer to myself and to the old stories of my island as a result of it.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by zoe terakes (@zoeterakes)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n