Ellis Light
@ellislight.bsky.social
Managing Editor at Renaissance Quarterly. Errant medievalist. Enjoyer of old songs, strange tales, crafty arts, nerdy pastimes. They/them.
Reposted by Ellis Light
Looking to publish a salty monograph or edited collection? 'Maritime Humanities, 1400-1800' - now published by
@routledgehistory.bsky.social - welcomes proposals on globalization, post-colonialism, eco-criticism, environmentalism & histories of science & technology routledge.com/Maritime-Hum... ⚓️
@routledgehistory.bsky.social - welcomes proposals on globalization, post-colonialism, eco-criticism, environmentalism & histories of science & technology routledge.com/Maritime-Hum... ⚓️
October 16, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Looking to publish a salty monograph or edited collection? 'Maritime Humanities, 1400-1800' - now published by
@routledgehistory.bsky.social - welcomes proposals on globalization, post-colonialism, eco-criticism, environmentalism & histories of science & technology routledge.com/Maritime-Hum... ⚓️
@routledgehistory.bsky.social - welcomes proposals on globalization, post-colonialism, eco-criticism, environmentalism & histories of science & technology routledge.com/Maritime-Hum... ⚓️
Reposted by Ellis Light
It's true: I wrote a book. And what's more, the book is done and soon you'll be able to own a copy. And what's more more, if you want a hard copy you can order one for 50% off now, with the code SAR50. And if you want it digitally, it'll be open access!
www.arc-humanities.org/978180270163...
www.arc-humanities.org/978180270163...
Trans Histories of the Medieval Book - Arc Humanities Press
Archival collections are political spaces: the decisions that govern whose histories are preserved, when, and by whom are not neutral. They reflect the commu...
www.arc-humanities.org
October 8, 2025 at 3:17 PM
It's true: I wrote a book. And what's more, the book is done and soon you'll be able to own a copy. And what's more more, if you want a hard copy you can order one for 50% off now, with the code SAR50. And if you want it digitally, it'll be open access!
www.arc-humanities.org/978180270163...
www.arc-humanities.org/978180270163...
Reposted by Ellis Light
Read bad art. Write bad art. Critique bad art.
October 2, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Read bad art. Write bad art. Critique bad art.
Reposted by Ellis Light
With 3 major art shows on C17th-18th women, is the Autumn of Early Modern #WomenArtists!
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750
nmwa.org/exhibitions/...
Michaelina Wautier-Painter
www.khm.at/en/exhibitio...
Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer
www.mfa.org/exhibition/r...
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750
nmwa.org/exhibitions/...
Michaelina Wautier-Painter
www.khm.at/en/exhibitio...
Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer
www.mfa.org/exhibition/r...
October 1, 2025 at 1:00 PM
With 3 major art shows on C17th-18th women, is the Autumn of Early Modern #WomenArtists!
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750
nmwa.org/exhibitions/...
Michaelina Wautier-Painter
www.khm.at/en/exhibitio...
Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer
www.mfa.org/exhibition/r...
Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750
nmwa.org/exhibitions/...
Michaelina Wautier-Painter
www.khm.at/en/exhibitio...
Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer
www.mfa.org/exhibition/r...
Reposted by Ellis Light
☞☞ Hands-on reading ☜☜
The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.
They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜
The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.
They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜
September 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
☞☞ Hands-on reading ☜☜
The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.
They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜
The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.
They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜
The new issue of Renaissance Quarterly is *fantastic* & in it you'll find:
- Disabled artistic expression of Hendrick Goltzius (whose hand self-portrait is the cover of this issue)
- *Incredible* drama between 16th-century shipbuilders
- Visual poetry about Thomas Becket
- VOLCANOES!
Go read it!
- Disabled artistic expression of Hendrick Goltzius (whose hand self-portrait is the cover of this issue)
- *Incredible* drama between 16th-century shipbuilders
- Visual poetry about Thomas Becket
- VOLCANOES!
Go read it!
September 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
The new issue of Renaissance Quarterly is *fantastic* & in it you'll find:
- Disabled artistic expression of Hendrick Goltzius (whose hand self-portrait is the cover of this issue)
- *Incredible* drama between 16th-century shipbuilders
- Visual poetry about Thomas Becket
- VOLCANOES!
Go read it!
- Disabled artistic expression of Hendrick Goltzius (whose hand self-portrait is the cover of this issue)
- *Incredible* drama between 16th-century shipbuilders
- Visual poetry about Thomas Becket
- VOLCANOES!
Go read it!
Reposted by Ellis Light
📣 We are delighted to announce that the Fall 2025 issue of Renaissance Quarterly (vol. 78.3) has been published online. You can view it here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #RenTwitter #earlymodern #Renaissance @universitypress.cambridge.org
September 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
📣 We are delighted to announce that the Fall 2025 issue of Renaissance Quarterly (vol. 78.3) has been published online. You can view it here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #RenTwitter #earlymodern #Renaissance @universitypress.cambridge.org
Reposted by Ellis Light
Hello everyone! Sharing a cfp for the International Medieval Congress at Leeds next summer, organised by Gummies Marie Besson and Brooklyn Arnot. Check it out!
September 16, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Hello everyone! Sharing a cfp for the International Medieval Congress at Leeds next summer, organised by Gummies Marie Besson and Brooklyn Arnot. Check it out!
Reposted by Ellis Light
This frontispiece in my book just made me laugh a lot. Is this Buddhist reincarnation, or some other form of afterlife?
September 7, 2025 at 9:20 PM
This frontispiece in my book just made me laugh a lot. Is this Buddhist reincarnation, or some other form of afterlife?
Reposted by Ellis Light
Just over ONE WEEK to go! The deadline for submitting an abstract for the Winter Conference is Friday 12th September! Share the news with your friends and come on down and join us in Norwich 🏰
@ueahistory.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @chase-dtp.bsky.social
@ueahistory.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @chase-dtp.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Just over ONE WEEK to go! The deadline for submitting an abstract for the Winter Conference is Friday 12th September! Share the news with your friends and come on down and join us in Norwich 🏰
@ueahistory.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @chase-dtp.bsky.social
@ueahistory.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @chase-dtp.bsky.social
On the Anthropic piracy settlement & compensation for authors whose work was stolen by their A.I. machine:
Authors -- check if your work was pirated by Anthropic here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then you can check the copyright and get compensated as part of the federal lawsuit.
Authors -- check if your work was pirated by Anthropic here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then you can check the copyright and get compensated as part of the federal lawsuit.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
On the Anthropic piracy settlement & compensation for authors whose work was stolen by their A.I. machine:
Authors -- check if your work was pirated by Anthropic here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then you can check the copyright and get compensated as part of the federal lawsuit.
Authors -- check if your work was pirated by Anthropic here: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Then you can check the copyright and get compensated as part of the federal lawsuit.
Reposted by Ellis Light
can't agree more.
more print, local print, traditional publishers, self-made, all of it.
more print, local print, traditional publishers, self-made, all of it.
Counterpoint: There is has never been a more urgent time to write a book. Technofascism is, among other things, an attempt to capture and enclose literature and literacy. Print is a rent strike.
is there anything more pointless right now that writing a book? feels that way to me
August 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
can't agree more.
more print, local print, traditional publishers, self-made, all of it.
more print, local print, traditional publishers, self-made, all of it.
One of our featured reviews for this issue -- free to access!
I reviewed Chrislayne Alfagali's brilliant _Blacksmiths of Ilamba_ for @rsaorg.bsky.social's Renaissance Quarterly. Highly recommend Alfagali's book to anyone interested in histories of technology and early modern Africa:
doi.org/10.1017/rqx....
doi.org/10.1017/rqx....
August 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
One of our featured reviews for this issue -- free to access!
I'm so excited to see this article appear in an upcoming special issue of RQ!
Delighted to say that my article on Lady Anne Southwell, scripture and landscape in early modern Ireland will be Open Access when it consumes out in Renaissance Quarterly at the end of this year. Thanks to the vision and hard work of @ucdresearch.bsky.social and particularly @ucdlibrary.bsky.social
August 6, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I'm so excited to see this article appear in an upcoming special issue of RQ!
Reposted by Ellis Light
We are thrilled to announce that the Summer 2025 issue of Renaissance Quarterly (vol. 78.2) has been published online. Take a look: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #RenTwitter #earlymodern #Renaissance @universitypress.cambridge.org
August 5, 2025 at 4:40 PM
We are thrilled to announce that the Summer 2025 issue of Renaissance Quarterly (vol. 78.2) has been published online. Take a look: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #RenTwitter #earlymodern #Renaissance @universitypress.cambridge.org
Reposted by Ellis Light
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Medieval History we’ve asked eight distinguished historians each to use an article from the journal’s first five years as a jumping off point to discuss historiographical trends. @tandfresearch.bsky.social
June 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Medieval History we’ve asked eight distinguished historians each to use an article from the journal’s first five years as a jumping off point to discuss historiographical trends. @tandfresearch.bsky.social
Reposted by Ellis Light
The NYT decided to kick trans people in the teeth the day after Skrmetti. They wrote a hit piece blaming trans people for their own oppression and attacked the people who have fought hardest to stop this effort to eradicate us.
They turned to Brianna Wu to further their narrative.
They turned to Brianna Wu to further their narrative.
June 19, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The NYT decided to kick trans people in the teeth the day after Skrmetti. They wrote a hit piece blaming trans people for their own oppression and attacked the people who have fought hardest to stop this effort to eradicate us.
They turned to Brianna Wu to further their narrative.
They turned to Brianna Wu to further their narrative.
Reposted by Ellis Light
The NYT was cited in the Supreme Court ruling used to strip trans people of healthcare. This is EXACTLY WHY the “just asking questions” crowd of centrist edgelord journalists are dangerous. They launder transphobia through faux neutral “debate” and act like it’s intellectual curiosity
June 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
The NYT was cited in the Supreme Court ruling used to strip trans people of healthcare. This is EXACTLY WHY the “just asking questions” crowd of centrist edgelord journalists are dangerous. They launder transphobia through faux neutral “debate” and act like it’s intellectual curiosity
Check out the new issue of RQ! There's the Bennett Lecture from @rsaorg.bsky.social 2024, PLUS articles on Muslim war narratives, race and blushing in Renaissance art, multilingual migrants, and tombs as treasure.
Cover image is Lautaro, a Mapuche leader of Indigenous resistance against the Spanish.
Cover image is Lautaro, a Mapuche leader of Indigenous resistance against the Spanish.
📣 We are delighted to announce that the latest issue of Renaissance Quarterly (vol. 78.1) has officially been published online! Take a look: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #RenTwitter #earlymodern #Renaissance
June 18, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Check out the new issue of RQ! There's the Bennett Lecture from @rsaorg.bsky.social 2024, PLUS articles on Muslim war narratives, race and blushing in Renaissance art, multilingual migrants, and tombs as treasure.
Cover image is Lautaro, a Mapuche leader of Indigenous resistance against the Spanish.
Cover image is Lautaro, a Mapuche leader of Indigenous resistance against the Spanish.
Remember to call or write to Stephan Bunker, Wayne Farrin, Dani O'Halloran, and David Rollins to thank them for supporting trans kids in Maine!
Not all the news is bad, Maine continues to stand up in defense of trans kids.
Maine Says No to Transphobic Bills — Assigned
Maine’s state senators shot down a series of anti-trans bills amid immense pressure from the federal government to enshrine transphobia into law.
www.assignedmedia.org
June 18, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Remember to call or write to Stephan Bunker, Wayne Farrin, Dani O'Halloran, and David Rollins to thank them for supporting trans kids in Maine!
Reposted by Ellis Light
anyone who’s done sustained historical research will recognize the feeling that it just takes soooo long. SO much longer than you’d think when starting
the idea that there’s some magic bullet that resolves this work so you can just churn it out faster is antithetical to the core ethos of the method
the idea that there’s some magic bullet that resolves this work so you can just churn it out faster is antithetical to the core ethos of the method
can’t read the NYT piece about historians using AI to write history which is pretty great actually because I DONT WANT TO
June 16, 2025 at 3:18 PM
anyone who’s done sustained historical research will recognize the feeling that it just takes soooo long. SO much longer than you’d think when starting
the idea that there’s some magic bullet that resolves this work so you can just churn it out faster is antithetical to the core ethos of the method
the idea that there’s some magic bullet that resolves this work so you can just churn it out faster is antithetical to the core ethos of the method
Reposted by Ellis Light
Lost in this 4,500 word article is the opaque recognition that LLMs are the tech sector's solution to human labor cost.
This is not an issue of labor (we have it) or value (we pay for it), it's an imposed concern about productivity from an economic point of view (it's expensive!).
This is not an issue of labor (we have it) or value (we pay for it), it's an imposed concern about productivity from an economic point of view (it's expensive!).
June 16, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Lost in this 4,500 word article is the opaque recognition that LLMs are the tech sector's solution to human labor cost.
This is not an issue of labor (we have it) or value (we pay for it), it's an imposed concern about productivity from an economic point of view (it's expensive!).
This is not an issue of labor (we have it) or value (we pay for it), it's an imposed concern about productivity from an economic point of view (it's expensive!).
Reposted by Ellis Light
keep running into people saying they will stay on facebook no matter what because to do otherwise is to "let them take away our voices" and I just ... don't think we need to trust corporate platforms with our voices. especially when said platforms just see said voices as content to be mined for $$$
June 3, 2025 at 3:47 PM
keep running into people saying they will stay on facebook no matter what because to do otherwise is to "let them take away our voices" and I just ... don't think we need to trust corporate platforms with our voices. especially when said platforms just see said voices as content to be mined for $$$
Reposted by Ellis Light
I’ve noticed an uptick in dismissals of the concerns of teachers about AI. Some say that it’s *their* job to find a way to evaluate work that AI can’t replicate. I would just ask that you talk to real teachers and really listen. I’d also suggest reading a bit about writing and the brain.
I talked to 15 teachers/professors about how AI and ChatGPT is ruining their lives:
www.404media.co/teachers-are...
www.404media.co/teachers-are...
Teachers Are Not OK
AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs "have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching."
www.404media.co
June 2, 2025 at 2:46 PM
I’ve noticed an uptick in dismissals of the concerns of teachers about AI. Some say that it’s *their* job to find a way to evaluate work that AI can’t replicate. I would just ask that you talk to real teachers and really listen. I’d also suggest reading a bit about writing and the brain.
Reposted by Ellis Light
The horrors persist, but today I am excited to see that my review of "May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth" was published in the Mariner's Mirror. It was a joy to review this incredible collection of Franklin letters.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the lost Franklin Arctic expedition
Published in The Mariner's Mirror (Vol. 111, No. 2, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
June 2, 2025 at 4:00 PM
The horrors persist, but today I am excited to see that my review of "May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth" was published in the Mariner's Mirror. It was a joy to review this incredible collection of Franklin letters.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....