He was born in Nafplion in 1907, studied law at the University of Athens and was involved in literature and theatre. Since 1937 he has served at the National Theatre as secretary, director of Dramatics, artistic director and general director of the National Theatre. In 1949 he became professor of Drama and Theatre History at the Drama School.

Newspaper contributor. He has received many awards and decorations. In 1974 he was elected a full member of the Academy of Athens until his death in 1979. He was a member of the St.-. Acropolis of Athens.

An important Greek writer who belongs to the “generation of 30”. He grew up in Nafplio where his father was the Mayor of the city. In 1915 the family moved to Athens. He studied at the Law School of the University of Athens. He was awarded a doctorate and practiced as a lawyer. But his great love was literature. In 1931 he published two collections of short stories and soon afterwards in 1932 his first novel, Bounders. He now devoted himself to literature and gave up the law. In 1937, he was acclaimed with his excellent novel, Menexedonia Politica. At the same time he presents his first play, Emperor Michael.

He was appointed general secretary of the National Theatre, which he served for many years until 1971. In the 1940 war, he fought on the Albanian front and remained in combat until the German invasion and the surrender of the country. In 1945 he presents his best historical novel Princess Isabeau . Terzakis writes articles for newspapers , Kathimerini, Vima and becomes director of the excellent magazine Epoches. In addition to plays, he also writes scripts for the cinema “Night Adventure”. In 1958 he presents serialized articles in the newspaper Acropolis together with Myrivili. , Man. Karagatsis and ILL. Venezi , the Novel of Four.

Terzakis was awarded the First State Theatre Prize in 1938 for his play Eilotes. The following year he won the First State Prize for Fiction for his play Secret Life. For his collection of essays Orientation to the Century (1963) he won the Group of 12 Prize and in 1969 he was awarded the Athens Academy of Letters Prize for his theatrical study The Mystery of Iagos. Many of his works were translated into English, Russian, German, Swedish, etc. Terzakis was philosophically restless, with man and his agonizing problems at the centre of his quest.