Ellis Light

Technically, a dictionary is a book of spells.

Sometimes when I'm editing an article, a secondary source will come up that is so fascinating that I simply must track it down. This was one of those. Bogs! Wetlands! Slowness as resistance! Indigenous land practices! Did I mention bogs?! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

Just had another thought-provoking session of our reading circle on historical landscape research. We read this introduction from a special issue in Renaissance Quarterly & ended up having a very meta discussion on the etymology of "resource" and ways we connect the archive w/ mining metaphors.

Important bunny, 1587. Has coat of arms! By Hans Hoffmann of Nuremberg, whose day is today.

to kick off #OpenAccessWeek why not have a look at our summer issue? it is fully #OpenAccess! the beautiful cover spotlights a 'Terms of art' on the medieval and modern significance of 'valhalla' co-authored by @liamh2os.bsky.social and @basilaprice.bsky.social

here's one for the TBR pile: Roger Bacon and the rich scientific ecosystem within which he thought, worked, and collaborated explored by a field expert!!

after lo these many months, I have a new essay up on my blog. It's a close reading of Middlemarch through a trans lens, with detours into I Saw The TV Glow, Cecilia Gentili, and James Frankie Thomas. Read it 👇 substack.com/home/post/p-...

Earlier this year I was delighted about being asked to review @leafyhistory.bsky.social’s new publication. Lee’s previous #Atlasofearlymodernwildlife had already impressed me on all levels, naturally leading to high expectations for the new book. #creaturesofleisure did not dissapoint. 👌

Congratulations to Karen B. Graubart (@kbgraubart.bsky.social) on winning the Paul Vanderwood Prize for her article, "Dialogic Depositions: Finding Black Women’s Presence in Spanish Colonial Legal Records," in Renaissance Quarterly @uchicagopress.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

ImPRESSed Yet? I am thrilled to announce that Impressive Textiles: Premodern Printing on Fabric will be published October 27 in print and Open Access with @acmrs.bsky.social, thanks to 30 textile and print scholars, and 1 groundbreaking exhibition @newberrylibrary.bsky.social! #CoverReveal 1/5

heraldic beasts continue. this is the amphiptere. simple, but effective. 🐍 #monstrosilist #ttrpg #bestiary

An essay from Renaissance Quarterly uses marginalia in Roger Ascham’s Greek Isocrates to reveal how this sixteenth-century humanist influenced court politics of the Tudor period. https://ow.ly/f61950ZNAaM. Renaissance Society of America

And if you are interested in slime molds, Matt's Cambridge Element is essential reading for learning more about their life cycle, unique physiology, morphology, and behavior, and why this organism is so fascinating for philosophers too! 👇📕 www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Join me, won't you, in boycotting the place with bad coffee and worse labor practices!

Extremely excited to announce an article co-authored by myself and Aaron Hyman on the visual and material cultures of Dutch piracy in the early modern Caribbean is now out in Renaissance quarterly @rsaorg.bsky.social , and open access! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

New issue of Renaissance Quarterly—articles on: Afro-Portuguese artistic exchange; Black knighthood; Michelangelo, race, and “moresche” dancing; altarpiece politics; piracy in the Dutch WIC; and disability in West Central Africa. Incredible issue!! www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/rq/current

📣 We are excited to announce that the Fall 2026 issue (79.3) of Renaissance Quarterly has been published online and is now available to view. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/rq/current #earlymodern #rentwitter @uchicagopress.bsky.social

An essay in Renaissance Quarterly draws new connections between consumption, gluttony, and Eve’s large belly in Hugo van der Goes’s small panel painting "Fall of Man" (ca. 1475): https://ow.ly/l3w450ZETq3 Renaissance Society of America

Perfection 👌

Exciting new book series! #EarlyModern Maritime Humanities. With @clairejowitt.bsky.social & John McAleer at the helm and published by @dgb-mem.bsky.social all info: rensoc.org.uk/announcement... #MaritimeHistory #SkyStorians

still thinking about proposing a special issue or essay cluster for /postmedieval/? there's still time! we're accepting proposals for guest-edited collections until 15 september. find the full #cfp on our website: sites.google.com/view/postmed... #MedievalStudies #PremodernStudies #CallForPapers

I would add to this: keep checking in with yourself over the course of your PhD--journaling, therapy, artmaking--about *why* you are pursuing the degree. Why are you here? What does it mean to you to complete this milestone? The answer does not have to end with "so that I can become a professor."

We gotta get gaudier for Dolly, and weirder for Tim.

i can't tell you what Rocky Horror alone meant to me as a young queer freak

Congratulations to our #SRSlyGood Book Prize 2026 shortlist: @jwscolley.bsky.social, Colby Gordon, Chloe Ireton, Jack Hartnell, & Tiffany Jo Werth! 🎊🎊🎊💫💫💫👏👏👏💫💫💫 🥳🥳🥳💫💫💫👏👏👏💫💫💫🎊🎊🎊 #Skystorians #EarlyModern rensoc.org.uk/srs-book-pri...

Book announcement!! 🎉 CREATURES OF STORY AND SONG looks through Britain’s stories and poems to rediscover our lost species. It’s time to remember what people thought about wolves, lynxes, great whales, great auks, sturgeon & more when they were all still here! 🐺🦫🐳💚 @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

And some of those giants were pirate kings, professional pirates, butlers, King Arthur... god. I grieve in awe.

We have walked the earth with giants, and some of those giants wear rhinestones. I am going to miss knowing that dazzling lighthouse of kindness and creativity was shining on the planet at the same time as me.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library gifted more than 332,000,000 books since it was first created 31 years ago.

The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of Dolly Parton, a music legend and titan of children's literacy. Her Imagination Library program has earned multiple Library Literacy Awards and, in 2018, she visited us to donate its 100 millionth book to our collection and host a story time. 🦋❤️

Tiny books function as a mild anti-depressant

I have nearly twenty of Tales of the Weird books on my shelves, and I'm running out of room, but I am definitely adding this one to the collection! I love Tales of the Weird @blpublishing.bsky.social and I love Yorkshire.

everyone wants to wax nostalgic about their ancient ancestors’ supposed war and hunting conquests and we should really be enthusing over how every one of us across hundreds of millennia wanted to poke through pebbles and find the shiny one and find a way to make our garments the color of flowers

Currently reading the diary of a French 11 year old in 1793 & loving it Summary: Hate having my portrait done, so boring Went to the palace and saw a really mangy rabbit, YUCK My tutor tells me I've got to stop picking my nose Also Marat has been murdered

The only useful mnemonic device for "continually" vs. "continuously" is to remember to look them up every single time, and you still won't know which one is which.

In 1638, Artemisia Gentileschi paints herself as the allegorical figure of Pictura. Bold! But justified. Today is her day.

Congrats to @docsthilaire.bsky.social, whose book "The Art of Pity," new from KSUP, is reviewed in "Renaissance Quarterly"! "This book will matter to Renaissance scholars, affect theorists, moral philosophers, aesthetic theorists, and literary critics": www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

This is not surprising in the least: I used to attend Quaker meetings regularly and it's still very important to me though I am no longer practicing!

Read "The Gentildonne of Fabriano: Forging Women’s Voices in Sixteenth-Century Italy" @lauraingalli.bsky.social (ISPLAS / CMS) in 'Renaissance Quarterly' Volume 79, Number 2. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Question for #academicsky: What is the best way to donate/recycle old hard copy academic journals? I really, truly do not have space for them and cannot justify keeping more than a few sentimental issues. I'm in New England, for context, so I doubt any nearby universities need them.

📣 We are delighted to announce that the Summer 2026 issue (79.2) of Renaissance Quarterly has been published online and is now available to view. www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/rq/current #earlymodern #rentwitter @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Tulips, carnations, lilies, roses -- all sorts of flowers gathered to be painted by Rachel Ruysch, who was born on this day in 1664.