Lupita Nyong’o unveils the cover of her children’s book: Sulwe

Lupita Nyong’o, the Kenya Black Panther movie star shared details on a new project she had been working on, and was so proud about, a children’s book called Sulwe.

Sulwe, which means “Star” in the Kenyan Luo language, is a new children’s book aiming at encouraging kids to love themselves. Sulwe tells the story of a young girl growing up in Kenya who has the darkest skin color of all her family. The young girl awakens with a re-imagined sense of beauty as she comes to terms with her dark skin.

Nyong’o has gone through a long journey of accepting her dark complexion, and with her book, is now looking to empower young children to do the same, and also inspire them to appreciate and accept their uniqueness.

She told Glamour in 2014:

“European standards of beauty are something that plague the entire world— the idea that darker skin is not beautiful, that light skin is the key to success and love. Africa is no exception. When I was in the second grade, one of my teachers said, “Where are you going to find a husband? How are you going to find someone darker than you?” I was mortified. I remember seeing a commercial where a woman goes for an interview and doesn’t get the job. Then she puts a cream on her face to lighten her skin, and she gets the job! This is the message: that dark skin is unacceptable. I definitely wasn’t hearing this from my immediate family—my mother never said anything to that effect—but the voices from the television are usually much louder than the voices of your parents. …
I’ve heard people talk about images in popular culture changing, and that makes me feel great, because it means that the little girl I was, once upon a time, has an image to instill in her that she is beautiful, that she is worthy—that she can… Until I saw people who looked like me, doing the things I wanted to, I wasn’t so sure it was a possibility. Seeing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah in The Color Purple, it dawned on me: “Oh—I could be an actress!” We plant the seed of possibility.”

Lupita announced the book will be released in October 2019.

You may pre order the book here.

Source: theglowup.theroot.com; hypable.com