Call Me Ishmaelle reimagines the epic battle between man and nature in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick from a female perspective. As the American Civil War breaks out in 1861, Ishmaelle boards the Nimrod, a whaling ship led by Captain Seneca, a Black free man of heroic stature who is haunted by a tragic past. Here, she finds protectors in Polynesian harpooner, Kauri, and Taoist monk, Muzi, whose readings of the I-Ching guide their quest. Through the bloody male violence of whaling, and the unveiling of her feminine identity, Ishmaelle realises there is a mysterious bond between herself and the mythical white whale, Moby Dick. Xiaolu Guo has crafted a dramatically different, feminist narrative that stands alongside the original while offering a powerful exploration of nature, gender and human purpose.
The Lau China Institute are excited to welcome author, Xiaolu Guo, for a presentation of her new book ‘Call Me Ishmaelle’ as part of China Week 2025. Xiaolu Guo will be in conversation with Yanran Yao, Lecturer in China, Gender, Politics, & Civil Society, Lau China Institute, King’s College London.
This is an in-person event only. Entry £5 (free for early bird).
NB Registration is required. Those without tickets will not be admitted.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase on the day.
About the speakers
Xiaolu Guo's novels include A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize), Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, and I Am China. Her memoir Once Upon A Time In The East won the National Book Critics Circle Award 2017 and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. Her nonfiction Radical was published by Vintage 2023, followed by My Battle of Hastings. Her 2025 novel Call Me Ishmaelle is a retelling of Melville’s Moby Dick. Named as a Granta’s Best of Young British Novelist, she also directed a dozen films including the Golden Leopard winner of her feature She, a Chinese. Guo has been a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York, and a Samuel Fischer Professor at the Free University in Berlin. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Yanran Yao is a political scientist specializing in Chinese politics, civil society, and globalization at the Lau China Institue, King’s College London. Before joining the Lau China Institute as a fixed-term lecturer, she has been teaching at the University of Hong Kong as a lecturer. She has extensive publications on journals including the Contemporary Journal of China. Her current research interests include Chinese diaspora community organizations and their roles in China’s overseas operations.
Please contact lauchina@kcl.ac.uk if you have any questions or specific participatory requirements.
