Ellie Chan
@elliechan.bsky.social
Art History/Music • Writer, singer, painter • Early Modernist at the Warburg Institute • BBC/AHRC New Gen Thinker • Previously: Maths is Pretty🧮 (Routledge ‘21), Art is Everywhere🦩🎨 (Big Picture Press ‘22), Music is Visible🧜🏼♀️ (OUP ‘24)
Reposted by Ellie Chan
TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE is official-publication-date-minus-2-weeks (11 November) which is a LOT👀 (I can't remember feeling this wound up about other books, I have the concentration of a gnat at the moment🙄) but seems to be live as an e-book already so, available to your Kindle right now, apparently...
October 28, 2025 at 4:10 PM
TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE is official-publication-date-minus-2-weeks (11 November) which is a LOT👀 (I can't remember feeling this wound up about other books, I have the concentration of a gnat at the moment🙄) but seems to be live as an e-book already so, available to your Kindle right now, apparently...
Reposted by Ellie Chan
🎶📚 FREE EVENT @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social 🎶📚
Join me & @elliechan.bsky.social for 'Music, life-writing & how to write about what you can’t hear.'
📅 15 Oct | 🕔 5–6pm | 📍 Goldsmiths (Richard Hoggart Building)
More info 👉 www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
@goldsmithsenglish.bsky.social
Join me & @elliechan.bsky.social for 'Music, life-writing & how to write about what you can’t hear.'
📅 15 Oct | 🕔 5–6pm | 📍 Goldsmiths (Richard Hoggart Building)
More info 👉 www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
@goldsmithsenglish.bsky.social
October 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
🎶📚 FREE EVENT @goldsmithsuol.bsky.social 🎶📚
Join me & @elliechan.bsky.social for 'Music, life-writing & how to write about what you can’t hear.'
📅 15 Oct | 🕔 5–6pm | 📍 Goldsmiths (Richard Hoggart Building)
More info 👉 www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
@goldsmithsenglish.bsky.social
Join me & @elliechan.bsky.social for 'Music, life-writing & how to write about what you can’t hear.'
📅 15 Oct | 🕔 5–6pm | 📍 Goldsmiths (Richard Hoggart Building)
More info 👉 www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...
@goldsmithsenglish.bsky.social
Reposted by Ellie Chan
New books from Catz alumni include 'Duet: An Artful History of Music' by @elliechan.bsky.social (2009, English), 'Diary of a Wicked Witch' by Ben Miller (1985, Natural Sciences) and 'Afterthoughts' by Richard Ayoade (1995, Law). 1/2
October 12, 2025 at 8:20 AM
New books from Catz alumni include 'Duet: An Artful History of Music' by @elliechan.bsky.social (2009, English), 'Diary of a Wicked Witch' by Ben Miller (1985, Natural Sciences) and 'Afterthoughts' by Richard Ayoade (1995, Law). 1/2
One whole week of Duet! It’s been an absolute whirlwind of incredibly enriching conversations with @petroc.bsky.social @elizabethalker.bsky.social and @drkkennedy.bsky.social and SUCH a delight to see this whimsical little book out into the world. Available now in all good bookshops!
September 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
One whole week of Duet! It’s been an absolute whirlwind of incredibly enriching conversations with @petroc.bsky.social @elizabethalker.bsky.social and @drkkennedy.bsky.social and SUCH a delight to see this whimsical little book out into the world. Available now in all good bookshops!
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Explored how we see music - instruments as art, sound as colour. We could have talked for hours @ @wolfsonoxford.bsky.social. @elliechan.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @duckworthbooks.bsky.social @headofzeus.bsky.social @oxfordlifewriting.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Explored how we see music - instruments as art, sound as colour. We could have talked for hours @ @wolfsonoxford.bsky.social. @elliechan.bsky.social @oxmusicfaculty.bsky.social @duckworthbooks.bsky.social @headofzeus.bsky.social @oxfordlifewriting.bsky.social
Reposted by Ellie Chan
This Monday, with @elliechan.bsky.social and @drkkennedy.bsky.social
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
September 20, 2025 at 11:06 AM
This Monday, with @elliechan.bsky.social and @drkkennedy.bsky.social
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Just announced!
To celebrate the launch of her book ‘Duet’ Dr Eleanor Chan will be in conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy (author of 'Cello') on Monday 22 September.
Tickets are just £6.50.
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
To celebrate the launch of her book ‘Duet’ Dr Eleanor Chan will be in conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy (author of 'Cello') on Monday 22 September.
Tickets are just £6.50.
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
Book Launch: Dr Eleanor Chan's 'Duet' | Music at Oxford
To celebrate the launch of her book ‘Duet’ Dr Eleanor Chan will be in conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy.
www.musicatoxford.com
September 16, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Just announced!
To celebrate the launch of her book ‘Duet’ Dr Eleanor Chan will be in conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy (author of 'Cello') on Monday 22 September.
Tickets are just £6.50.
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
To celebrate the launch of her book ‘Duet’ Dr Eleanor Chan will be in conversation with Dr Kate Kennedy (author of 'Cello') on Monday 22 September.
Tickets are just £6.50.
Details: www.musicatoxford.com/whats-on/boo...
Reposted by Ellie Chan
"LLMs are not principled reasoners but rather sophisticated simulators of reasoning-like text"
LLMs’ “simulated reasoning” abilities are a “brittle mirage,” researchers find
Chain-of-thought AI “degrades significantly” when asked to generalize beyond training.
arstechnica.com
August 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM
"LLMs are not principled reasoners but rather sophisticated simulators of reasoning-like text"
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Tonight!!! Exploring how Beethoven was used during World War II, featuring the only interview Elly Ney's family have given to English language media 😱 this was such a fascinating doc to make
Fascinating Radio 3 Sunday Feature tonight by the marvellous @leahbroad.bsky.social looking at how Myra Hess in UK and Elly Ney in Nazi Germany both used Beethoven for their own very different ends around World War II. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, Conscripting Beethoven
How two women used Beethoven's piano music to shape wartime culture in Germany and Britain
www.bbc.co.uk
May 4, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Tonight!!! Exploring how Beethoven was used during World War II, featuring the only interview Elly Ney's family have given to English language media 😱 this was such a fascinating doc to make
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, almost all letter writers had to use letterlocking. "Letterlocking" provides an archival history of the practice, including sources so readers can learn how to make locked letters for their own correspondence: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204927...
April 10, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, almost all letter writers had to use letterlocking. "Letterlocking" provides an archival history of the practice, including sources so readers can learn how to make locked letters for their own correspondence: mitpress.mit.edu/978026204927...
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Here's an idea for Microsoft: ditch the stupid AI BS and improve the software.
April 9, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Here's an idea for Microsoft: ditch the stupid AI BS and improve the software.
Reposted by Ellie Chan
just imagine working at microsofft and thinking “let’s spend billions, steal a load of intellectual property, and destroy the planet to make an interface to write bad essays” rather than “let’s update MS Word so users can comment on footnotes”
March 28, 2025 at 6:36 AM
just imagine working at microsofft and thinking “let’s spend billions, steal a load of intellectual property, and destroy the planet to make an interface to write bad essays” rather than “let’s update MS Word so users can comment on footnotes”
Team, exciting news! Duet: An Artful History of music not only has a cover, it is also available to preorder!
It’s a visual history of music 35,000BCE-present day, but also about failing to become a musician; about second chances; and about learning to look and listen.
It’s a visual history of music 35,000BCE-present day, but also about failing to become a musician; about second chances; and about learning to look and listen.
March 1, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Team, exciting news! Duet: An Artful History of music not only has a cover, it is also available to preorder!
It’s a visual history of music 35,000BCE-present day, but also about failing to become a musician; about second chances; and about learning to look and listen.
It’s a visual history of music 35,000BCE-present day, but also about failing to become a musician; about second chances; and about learning to look and listen.
Reposted by Ellie Chan
We are characters in Act III Scene IV of a longer story and it’s just basic self-respect to want to know how we got here. Everyone deserves a chance to ask.
The premodern world held possibilities and imagined futures: the physical and metaphysical systems that were actively built and contested then continue to inform the world in the present.
Read our statement on the value of Renaissance & Premodern Studies:
www.rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...
Read our statement on the value of Renaissance & Premodern Studies:
www.rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...
May 30, 2024 at 11:41 AM
We are characters in Act III Scene IV of a longer story and it’s just basic self-respect to want to know how we got here. Everyone deserves a chance to ask.
Reposted by Ellie Chan
The premodern world held possibilities and imagined futures: the physical and metaphysical systems that were actively built and contested then continue to inform the world in the present.
Read our statement on the value of Renaissance & Premodern Studies:
www.rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...
Read our statement on the value of Renaissance & Premodern Studies:
www.rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...
May 30, 2024 at 8:18 AM
The premodern world held possibilities and imagined futures: the physical and metaphysical systems that were actively built and contested then continue to inform the world in the present.
Read our statement on the value of Renaissance & Premodern Studies:
www.rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...
Read our statement on the value of Renaissance & Premodern Studies:
www.rensoc.org.uk/statement-on...
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Take that, Picasso: the frenzied work by Faith Ringgold that took MoMA by storm
by Hettie Judah for The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Take that, Picasso: the frenzied work by Faith Ringgold that took MoMA by storm
The artist, who has died aged 93, spent her life battling white male dominance, in the gallery and beyond. Her work foregrounded Black American experience with a raw and unforgettable power
www.theguardian.com
April 17, 2024 at 11:42 AM
Take that, Picasso: the frenzied work by Faith Ringgold that took MoMA by storm
by Hettie Judah for The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Queen Elizabeth I died #OTD in 1603. This volume of sermons by John Udall (London, 1596) luxuriously bound in velvet & with silver thread may have been made for presentation to the Queen, carrying her arms on both covers. Cambridge UL SSS.24.32.
March 24, 2024 at 8:31 AM
Queen Elizabeth I died #OTD in 1603. This volume of sermons by John Udall (London, 1596) luxuriously bound in velvet & with silver thread may have been made for presentation to the Queen, carrying her arms on both covers. Cambridge UL SSS.24.32.
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Fascinating post today by Sarah Lindenbaum on a delightful copy of the book of common prayer, with multiple early modern female owners buff.ly/3x7ASkk #HerBook #EarlyModern #18C
The Book of Common Prayer (1692)
As we have previously noted, the Book of Common Prayer is one of the books most likely to have been owned by a woman. As of the writing of this post, eight other examples have been featured here. A co...
buff.ly
March 20, 2024 at 6:02 PM
Fascinating post today by Sarah Lindenbaum on a delightful copy of the book of common prayer, with multiple early modern female owners buff.ly/3x7ASkk #HerBook #EarlyModern #18C
Reposted by Ellie Chan
This sums it up perfectly. It’s not a conversation.
March 4, 2024 at 2:20 AM
This sums it up perfectly. It’s not a conversation.
Her husband: nO yoU cAnNot bE a cOnCErt pIanISt
Anna Casparsson: *creates stunning embroidered art instead*
A fascinating musical-visual intersection at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
Anna Casparsson: *creates stunning embroidered art instead*
A fascinating musical-visual intersection at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
February 28, 2024 at 5:06 PM
Her husband: nO yoU cAnNot bE a cOnCErt pIanISt
Anna Casparsson: *creates stunning embroidered art instead*
A fascinating musical-visual intersection at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
Anna Casparsson: *creates stunning embroidered art instead*
A fascinating musical-visual intersection at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
And a Happy Valentines Day to us all, with love from Thomas Trevelyon's Elizabethan Meme Book.
February 14, 2024 at 11:53 AM
And a Happy Valentines Day to us all, with love from Thomas Trevelyon's Elizabethan Meme Book.
It’s only taken her 8 months but Madame is finally starting to get the hang of this feline research assistant malarkey.
February 9, 2024 at 1:17 PM
It’s only taken her 8 months but Madame is finally starting to get the hang of this feline research assistant malarkey.
Reposted by Ellie Chan
Want to know more about the discoveries relating to Thomas Cromwell's Book of Hours, now on display in the Wren? This blog post will tell you everything, from the link with Holbein's portrait to how Raman spectroscopy was used to identify the jewels in the binding. Not to be missed! t.ly/ot3RS
January 19, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Want to know more about the discoveries relating to Thomas Cromwell's Book of Hours, now on display in the Wren? This blog post will tell you everything, from the link with Holbein's portrait to how Raman spectroscopy was used to identify the jewels in the binding. Not to be missed! t.ly/ot3RS
Reposted by Ellie Chan
I figured it out! There is now a Musicology feed here on BlueSky. You can find it at bsky.app/profile/did:...
(and please let me know if you have feedback!)
(and please let me know if you have feedback!)
January 12, 2024 at 1:33 AM
I figured it out! There is now a Musicology feed here on BlueSky. You can find it at bsky.app/profile/did:...
(and please let me know if you have feedback!)
(and please let me know if you have feedback!)
Reposted by Ellie Chan
(CN - suicide)
For those of you who are London-based/adjacent, this event features some excellent historians and is in aid of PAPYRUS, who work for prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people. An extremely important cause. Pls share.
For those of you who are London-based/adjacent, this event features some excellent historians and is in aid of PAPYRUS, who work for prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people. An extremely important cause. Pls share.
Tales of Youth | The Big History Night In - Southwark Cathedral
A 3-hour candlelit evening of history talks supporting the charity Papyrus who are dedicated to the prevention of suicide in young people
cathedral.southwark.anglican.org
January 11, 2024 at 3:29 PM
(CN - suicide)
For those of you who are London-based/adjacent, this event features some excellent historians and is in aid of PAPYRUS, who work for prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people. An extremely important cause. Pls share.
For those of you who are London-based/adjacent, this event features some excellent historians and is in aid of PAPYRUS, who work for prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people. An extremely important cause. Pls share.