Jolene Tan
@acertainjolene.bsky.social
Novelist: AFTER THE INQUIRY / A CERTAIN EXPOSURE
rewording.substack.com
From Singapore, live in England
EN | DE | FR | CN | BR-PT
rewording.substack.com
From Singapore, live in England
EN | DE | FR | CN | BR-PT
Books are treating me well right now.
1. Just finished PARALLEL LINES. It's easily the best St Aubyn since the Melrose books, genuinely moving & the "combine harvester" line keeps making me laugh
1. Just finished PARALLEL LINES. It's easily the best St Aubyn since the Melrose books, genuinely moving & the "combine harvester" line keeps making me laugh
January 7, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Books are treating me well right now.
1. Just finished PARALLEL LINES. It's easily the best St Aubyn since the Melrose books, genuinely moving & the "combine harvester" line keeps making me laugh
1. Just finished PARALLEL LINES. It's easily the best St Aubyn since the Melrose books, genuinely moving & the "combine harvester" line keeps making me laugh
I am here on social media for the first time in a while to complain about the illogicality of the phrase "chickens coming home to roost".
December 13, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I am here on social media for the first time in a while to complain about the illogicality of the phrase "chickens coming home to roost".
I don't know why I ever thought working on such a big hoop would be a good idea, but after six months of work it is finally done.
November 17, 2025 at 6:31 PM
I don't know why I ever thought working on such a big hoop would be a good idea, but after six months of work it is finally done.
Perhaps inevitably, I experimented with audio rather than written content. Although maybe I ought not to have done it while full of cold. rewording.substack.com/p/episode-1-...
Episode 1 - Jude the Obscure
What better way to start a johnny-come-lately podcast than with a 19th-century novel?
rewording.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Perhaps inevitably, I experimented with audio rather than written content. Although maybe I ought not to have done it while full of cold. rewording.substack.com/p/episode-1-...
I watched The Pony Collaboration only once, 17 or 18 years ago, in an audience of maybe four or five, in a pub in Brixton. I still remember their baffled delight when I went up after and bought their album theponycollaboration.bandcamp.com
The Pony Collaboration
theponycollaboration.bandcamp.com
August 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I watched The Pony Collaboration only once, 17 or 18 years ago, in an audience of maybe four or five, in a pub in Brixton. I still remember their baffled delight when I went up after and bought their album theponycollaboration.bandcamp.com
I had BBC R4 on, they took 7-8 listener remarks on AI x jobs & it was all shockingly credulous. The person who tried to explain that there was a hype bubble going on & the limits of LLMs got cut off. The host referred to generative AI as "the one that can think for itself". Woeful.
August 16, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I had BBC R4 on, they took 7-8 listener remarks on AI x jobs & it was all shockingly credulous. The person who tried to explain that there was a hype bubble going on & the limits of LLMs got cut off. The host referred to generative AI as "the one that can think for itself". Woeful.
Reposted by Jolene Tan
What I call Serfdom of the Self is when our identities, attention, and even emotions become dependent on digital systems we don’t control. We hand over more of our inner lives to these systems, and in return they decide the conditions of our existence.
August 11, 2025 at 7:33 PM
What I call Serfdom of the Self is when our identities, attention, and even emotions become dependent on digital systems we don’t control. We hand over more of our inner lives to these systems, and in return they decide the conditions of our existence.
Some thoughts on books I've read lately rewording.substack.com/p/quick-note...
Quick notes on recent reading
From Lorrie Moore to Silvia Moreno-Garcia
rewording.substack.com
August 11, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Some thoughts on books I've read lately rewording.substack.com/p/quick-note...
I'm rereading JUDE THE OBSCURE after some years. I'd forgotten how much flimflamming around Jude & Sue do. Also, he actually spends remarkably little time 'on stage' on either scholarship or religion, although these are posited as his grand thwarted ambitions.
July 24, 2025 at 7:43 PM
I'm rereading JUDE THE OBSCURE after some years. I'd forgotten how much flimflamming around Jude & Sue do. Also, he actually spends remarkably little time 'on stage' on either scholarship or religion, although these are posited as his grand thwarted ambitions.
I read @adambecker.bsky.social 's MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER. It's great for many reasons but I responded to it in part as a science fiction reader. rewording.substack.com/p/book-recom... I also appreciated the They Might Be Giants cameo, though I didn't mention it in this piece
Book recommendation: More Everything Forever
Adam Becker describes people who are too invested in bad science fiction ideas, and who unfortunately also have a lot of money.
rewording.substack.com
July 17, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I read @adambecker.bsky.social 's MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER. It's great for many reasons but I responded to it in part as a science fiction reader. rewording.substack.com/p/book-recom... I also appreciated the They Might Be Giants cameo, though I didn't mention it in this piece
Reposted by Jolene Tan
Exactly - entire communities break down. Also in my doc 🙂
BBC Radio 4 - Uninsurable Planet
Felicity Hannah explores how climate change is leaving communities 'uninsurable'.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 13, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Exactly - entire communities break down. Also in my doc 🙂
I had a really lovely time chatting with and hearing from readers today. It's been years since I've done this! Grateful to the NLB folks for organising and the readers for showing up.
June 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I had a really lovely time chatting with and hearing from readers today. It's been years since I've done this! Grateful to the NLB folks for organising and the readers for showing up.
If you'd like to chat with me about my 2021 novel AFTER THE INQUIRY, join us for this online book club session tomorrow!
It's been ages since I spoke to readers! Looking forward to this online book club session organised by NLB Singapore www.nlb.gov.sg/main/whats-o...
After the Inquiry by Jolene Tan | Singapore Literature Book Club
About the Programme Join us at Singapore Literature Book Club as we discuss After The Inquiry
www.nlb.gov.sg
June 19, 2025 at 7:33 AM
If you'd like to chat with me about my 2021 novel AFTER THE INQUIRY, join us for this online book club session tomorrow!
It's been ages since I spoke to readers! Looking forward to this online book club session organised by NLB Singapore www.nlb.gov.sg/main/whats-o...
After the Inquiry by Jolene Tan | Singapore Literature Book Club
About the Programme Join us at Singapore Literature Book Club as we discuss After The Inquiry
www.nlb.gov.sg
May 16, 2025 at 2:07 PM
It's been ages since I spoke to readers! Looking forward to this online book club session organised by NLB Singapore www.nlb.gov.sg/main/whats-o...
New data from @globalcanopy.org tells us that of the world's top 500 deforestation powerbrokers, only 16 companies have both strong commitments to tackle deforestation and evidence of implementation.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Business failure to act on deforestation puts everyone at risk
Forests are essential to life as we know it. They play a vital role as carbon sinks and climate regulators, they are habitats for a wealth of biodiversity, home to 300 million people and support the livelihoods of over a billion people. Yet forests, and the benefits they bring, are threatened by companies and the banks that finance them.
www.reuters.com
April 29, 2025 at 7:12 PM
New data from @globalcanopy.org tells us that of the world's top 500 deforestation powerbrokers, only 16 companies have both strong commitments to tackle deforestation and evidence of implementation.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
I've been talking around many of these themes for some time - but not with this clarity.
Ultra-Processed Minds: The End of Deep Reading and What It Costs Us carlhendrick.substack.com/p/ultra-proc...
Ultra-Processed Minds: The End of Deep Reading and What It Costs Us
A reflection on the reading life. What formed it, what threatens it, and what remains.
carlhendrick.substack.com
April 21, 2025 at 8:25 AM
I've been talking around many of these themes for some time - but not with this clarity.
Reposted by Jolene Tan
Ultra-Processed Minds: The End of Deep Reading and What It Costs Us carlhendrick.substack.com/p/ultra-proc...
Ultra-Processed Minds: The End of Deep Reading and What It Costs Us
A reflection on the reading life. What formed it, what threatens it, and what remains.
carlhendrick.substack.com
April 21, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Ultra-Processed Minds: The End of Deep Reading and What It Costs Us carlhendrick.substack.com/p/ultra-proc...
"They moved in when the house was newly built, and we moved in after them: the experience of living in this building is something we have in common with each other but with no one else in the world." rewording.substack.com/p/an-odd-inh...
An odd inheritance
I've never met the people who lived in this house before, but their memory is part of my daily life.
rewording.substack.com
April 13, 2025 at 12:50 PM
"They moved in when the house was newly built, and we moved in after them: the experience of living in this building is something we have in common with each other but with no one else in the world." rewording.substack.com/p/an-odd-inh...
Halfway through S4 and still bowled over by what an aesthetic and artistic triumph the My Brilliant Friend adaptation is. One of the best things I have ever watched - a lifetime high.
April 2, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Halfway through S4 and still bowled over by what an aesthetic and artistic triumph the My Brilliant Friend adaptation is. One of the best things I have ever watched - a lifetime high.
Hit to GDP from nature loss is "larger than the economic disruption caused by the global financial crisis or Covid-19... yet we continue to separate or remove consideration of impacts on nature from corporate and financial decisions... a colossal act of self-harm." globalcanopy.org/insights/ins...
"It's the economy, stupid." Sacrificing nature for wealth destroys both – Global Canopy
In 2020 the World Economic Forum published a much quoted report stating over half the world’s GDP, or US$44 trillion, was moderately or highly dependent on
globalcanopy.org
March 22, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Hit to GDP from nature loss is "larger than the economic disruption caused by the global financial crisis or Covid-19... yet we continue to separate or remove consideration of impacts on nature from corporate and financial decisions... a colossal act of self-harm." globalcanopy.org/insights/ins...
Reposted by Jolene Tan
"If using the term hallucination is useful to describe LLM output it is to illustrate the quality of all output. Everything an LLM generates is a hallucination, some just might accidentally be true."
It’s all hallucinations
It’s all hallucinations
March 17, 2025 at 8:40 AM
"If using the term hallucination is useful to describe LLM output it is to illustrate the quality of all output. Everything an LLM generates is a hallucination, some just might accidentally be true."
It’s all hallucinations
It’s all hallucinations
Reposted by Jolene Tan
one of the tricky things as a writer is that "could this be taken the wrong way by a reader acting in good faith" is something you should genuinely think about and consider, whereas constantly worrying about "will this be taken the wrong way by a reader acting in bad faith" will hamstring you.
March 11, 2025 at 2:13 PM
one of the tricky things as a writer is that "could this be taken the wrong way by a reader acting in good faith" is something you should genuinely think about and consider, whereas constantly worrying about "will this be taken the wrong way by a reader acting in bad faith" will hamstring you.
Reposted by Jolene Tan
You can send donations yourself direct to ukraine here: war.ukraine.ua/donate/ #SlavaUkraïni
Donate to Ukraine’s defenders
The National Bank of Ukraine has decided to open a special fundraising account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
war.ukraine.ua
February 28, 2025 at 7:33 PM
You can send donations yourself direct to ukraine here: war.ukraine.ua/donate/ #SlavaUkraïni
This is probably very 2015 or something (I’m constitutionally a late adopter), but there’s one year of Portuguese down!
February 22, 2025 at 9:59 PM
This is probably very 2015 or something (I’m constitutionally a late adopter), but there’s one year of Portuguese down!