Zoe Terakes and Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers

Zoe (they/he) is an actor and trans activist living and working on Gadigal Land. First and foremost, they describe themselves as an aries who likes surfing and food, with acting as their main gig currently. While they wouldn't describe themselves as a writer, it is definitely something they are working on. Diving into their own literary history and influence, Zoe has an array of authors that were incredibly formative in their youth and has helped shape their writing become what it is today. The first books that made them cry was Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, as well as Lemony Sncikett’s (Daniel Handler) Series of Unfortunate Events, which was read to them by their mum as a child.

Unsurprisingly, the power of language itself is something Zoe has always felt a strange and strong affinity to, having always held certain lines of words and lines in their head since they can remember: 

“Numbers fail me entirely, so I’m glad I have words. There’s certain lines in Arthur Miller plays that I’ve had lodged in my brain since my school did the Crucible in year 10 and my best friend played the lead. I played the nurse with three lines. Pretty big deal.” 

However, one author in particular has stuck out to Zoe. They cite André Aciman as number one:

“I’ve read almost everything he’s written. He’s an Italian American writer born and raised in Egypt, and you probably know him because he wrote Call Me By Your Name. He also wrote a book called Enigma Variations, which I found pretty life changing. His use of language is so vital and living, it cuts right to the core of what it means to be alive. And, for Aciman, that is love. Love is the driving force in almost all of his books. His love stories are vivid and dreamlike at the same time as being utterly, devastatingly real. He’s clearly got an enormous, deeply feeling heart; it beats and bleeds through his words.” 

Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers is described as a collection of short stories, each recounting a different queer Greek myth. These stories are grounded in truth, and coloured in with detail and creativity. Zoe describes the book as glimpses into moments between ancient lovers. Some stories will attempt to span across a life, and others, an evening. In five words, Zoe describes the novel to us as “Epic. Greek. Vivid. Surreal. Sexy.” 

This book can be seen as an undertaking of exploring Zoe’s own Greek heritage and identity in many ways. While many people know them as a gifted and groundbreaking storyteller through their performances, the format of the novel is an entirely new venture. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open them, and familiarity with plays and scripts, they say this form of storytelling snuck up on them:

“I’m not sure. I always thought if I were to write anything it would be a play. But I’ve fallen in love with this form. There’s a freedom to novel/short story writing that is so new to me, because I’m so used to reading plays or scripts. Being able to describe exactly what someone is feeling and find the fruit that feeling tastes like, or thinking about what longing smells like. I feel a greater access to these abstract things because of the form.” 

In terms of their own Greekness, Zoe has been into folklore and mythology since they can remember. Indeed, the vast group of legends about gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, warriors and fools, that were an important part of everyday life in the ancient world have been magnetic. Zoe says there’s something about Greek mythology in particular that captures us when we’re kids; both the magic and the darkness: 

“The Greeks don’t pull their punches, and that’s fucking thrilling to a kid, it was to me anyway. It’s something I’ve put down and picked back up since childhood, but over the past few years I just haven’t been able to kick it. I talk to my cousin Ben about it a lot, he knows a lot more than me. There’s something so magnetic about the Gods because they are so flawed. They’re more human than humans, but they have wings and powers. They experience love and heartbreak in the same fever we do, except they can turn their lovers into bears or warriors. There’s something elevated and just beyond our reach that is driven by the same innately human desires in Greek mythology that really hooks me.” 

According to Hesiod in his poetic cosmogony Theogony, Eros was one of the primaeval gods responsible for Creation - associated above all with fertility, desire and sexual love. In Ancient Greece, Eros was considered the specific protector of homosexual love. While not yet a feature of the book, Zoe chose Eros for the title and cover as a fitting protector of these stories - keeping them safe. Indeed, exploring Eros and wider features of queerness in Greek mythology, which have been crucially influential on (mainly Western) queer literature, have helped Zoe find a sense of queer belonging:

“In times like these, where queer and, predominantly, trans people have such targets on their back, it feels so important to wrap ourselves up in stories of our history. We survived then, and we will again. Because so much of the language around trans people describes us as “new” and “contagious,” it’s been really brilliant for my brain and heart to delve into just how ancient we are. There is quite literally nothing new about trans people. We are as old and essential as cis people. Obviously, this is first made evident in First Nations cultures all over the world. The presence of trans people on this planet is consistently clear, and is nothing new.” 

Eros has taken months of extensive research from Zoe. While they have a whole book shelf filled exclusively with books on Ancient Greece and Greek mythology, they know they’ve barely scratched the surface of this extensive world:

“The more I know, the less I feel I know. But I’m working my ass off to hold it all in my head, and to have it inform what’s on the page.”  

Now out of the research phase, Zoe has shared what they can about the book amidst the writing stage. They declare that Icarus,the figure who ignored his father's warnings and flew too close to the sun, is the mythical character they connect most with (because he loves the sun). Finally, here is a small but beautiful excerpt from his particular story: 

“For hours, Icarus would bathe beneath the trees. The last of autumn’s hyacinths bloomed at the head of the basin, dizzying in their lilac. Icarus conducted them like an orchestra, convinced that if he just concentrated hard enough, they might sway to his rhythm. He thought like this often. That nature might bend to him. He was of that captivating and dangerous age where boys arrive in their bodies and become men, and the world blushes in response. Icarus was not arrogant; he had very little awareness of just how strikingly beautiful he was. He did, however, feel special. Like nature had quietly told him that he was her favourite. (And he humbly believed her.) He had a small feeling in his heart that he was at the very core of the earth’s turning.”

Eros will be ready for print in 2024. Find updates on Zoe’s Instagram for more.