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Lupita Nyong’o picks Luo name for her new children’s book

By HILARY KIMUYU January 18th, 2018 2 min read

Award winning actress Lupita Nyong’o announced Wednesday that she has written a children’s book called Sulwe.

Sulwe means star in her dholuo language.

The 12 Years A Slave star said that Sulwe, the main character, is a “dark-skinned girl who goes on a starry-eyed adventure, and awakens with a reimagined sense of beauty. She encounters lessons that we learn as children and spend our lives unlearning.”.

She added; “This is a story for little ones, but no matter the age I hope it serves as an inspiration for everyone to walk with joy in their own skin.”

The 34-year-old actress, who recently voiced Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has often spoken out about beauty standards.

In 2014, she gave a speech at the Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon in which she talked her frustrations and disappointments of feeling unbeautiful and how talk show host Oprah Winfrey changed her mind.

“I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin. I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first,” she said.

Oprah, she said, changed her mind when she called international model Alek Wek “beautiful.”

Sulwe is set for release in January 2019.

Lupita will next month be seen in the much anticipated Black Panther film were she stars as a member of the Dora Milaje, a group of female assassins dedicated to protecting the advanced nation of Wakanda and King T’Challa himself.

Much has been previously made of Lupita’s strong female lead in the new film, which expands on the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War and concentrates on the African nation of Wakanda and how T’Challa becomes the Black Panther.