Essential Information
| Type | Talks and tours |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Date and Times | Thursday 26 June 2025 l 6.30pm-7.30pm |
| Prices | Free | Members only |
| Member exclusive. Not a member? Join now |
We all know the classic story between man and nature featured in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, but what would happen if the story came from a female perspective? Call Me Ishmaelle reimagines the epic in a whole new light.
It's 1843. Ishmaelle is born in a small village on the stormy Kent coast where she grows up swimming with dolphins. After her parents and infant sister die, her brother Joseph leaves to find work as a sailor. Abandoned and desperate for a life at sea, Ishmaelle disguises herself as a cabin boy and travels to New York.
About the speaker
The author Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include: Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China.
Her recent memoir Once Upon a Time in the East won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover's Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.
Not already a Member?
Join today for a host of exclusive benefits and events, including unlimited free entry to Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, shows at the Peter Harrison Planetarium, and special exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum.
With Membership starting from as little as £50, what are you waiting for? Membership is your time to explore!
What’s On
More Member events at Royal Museums Greenwich.
Image courtesy of Vintage Penguin Publishing House.