Lucas Mexis is an extremely busy 27-year-old. From being the editor of yupi.gr and being involved in the ʻChartinos Kosmosʼ group -a digital comic updated every Monday to being a member of the party organising team ʻYes it does ! Sure it does!!ʼ responsible for some great parties around Athens and his latest venture:
his first novel SHOEBOX [a summer scam] published last June.
-How does it feel having published a novel at just 26?
It is something that makes me feel nervous as well as relieved since the story was ready for a long time and was just waiting for the right time to be published. Overall it hasnʼt been easy. I started writing it in my 20s and at an age when you have no idea what your doing so your thoughts and writing are a complete mess.
Look, I have been dreaming this since I was a child and the right time came to make it reality.
-What made you came up with the story for Shoebox?
It is based on autobiographical experiences following a certain period of my life connected together with fiction. OK, in reality there were perhaps less extreme situations however everything is somewhere there: Amorgos, the paintings, the anarchist tourists and obviously the nervous but (hopefully) likeable protagonist.
-Were there any sacrifices involved? How hard was it to stay focused working at night while others were having fun outside?
It was and it still is. During a four month period I did nothing else than waking up, writing, eating, editing… During a three year period, I re-read and edited Shoebox at about six times. My head was full, I would start hating the pages, feeling tired but I had to go through it, if not myself then who else?
-What are your first impressions from the world of publishing?
At first I felt disappointed with the vague rejections as well as the refusal to give opportunities to young people -something which is also true in the world of music, fashion, everywhere. In general us Greeks are processed by this complex fear of anything new and at the same time we surrender ourselves to what is dated. I had numerous excuses, most of them related to the crisis, some of them concerning my writing style. In the end I realised that if you insist and you truly believe in what you have produced then someone will recognise it. I remember that when I heard the publisherʼs view I was shocked that at last someone was uttering the things I had waited to hear for five years (no one had read it previously, not even a friend, since I guess I was afraid).
-Shoebox is a book about…
Us!
Lucas Mexis is an extremely busy 27-year-old. From being the editor of yupi.gr and being involved in the ʻChartinos Kosmosʼ group -a digital comic updated every Monday to being a member of the party organising team ʻYes it does ! Sure it does!!ʼ responsible for some great parties around Athens and his latest venture:
his first novel SHOEBOX [a summer scam] published last June.
Text:Kiriaki-Domenika Chandra
Photo: Nikos Katsaros
