Lupita Nyong'o celebrates 3 years since unveiling her comic book 'Sulwe'

ELIZABETH NGIGI Lifestyle, Entertainment Journalist

17 October 2022

• Lupita Nyong'o said she wrote the book after she was teased for her colour while growing up.

• Lupita's book 'Sulwe' was later adapted into an animated musical for Netflix.

Hollywood actress Lupita Nyong'o is celebrating three years since launching her comic book 'Sulwe' which means black.

Lupita shared a video on her Instagram revealing that seeing her book on shelves made her happy.

"Happy 3rd Birthday, #Sulwe! To this day, I am filled with glee each time I see the book shining bright on shelves and in the hands of precious readers around the world!"

In 2021, Lupita won an Emmy for Outstanding Limited Performance In a Children's Programme for her role as The Storyteller on Netflix's Bookmark's 'Celebrating Black Voices.

Actress Lupita Nyong'o said she wrote the book after she was teased for her colour while growing up.

Lupita in a past Instagram Live session with singer Akothee spoke about her book, 'Sulwe'.

"When I was growing up, I got teased for my skin, but I also had a sister who was born after me and her skin was lighter than mine."

"It was from relatives and friends going like, ‘Ohhh, she is so brown and beautiful,' and never hearing that said about me."

Lupita added that the first time she felt there is something wrong with her dark skin, she was in class five.

"I’m surrounded by dark-skinned people but how come it is not associated with beauty? So I started doing a lot of things that Sulwe was doing in the book."

She said she never saw dark skin in children’s books.

"That is why I wrote Sulwe, to help children learn that they are beautiful before the world tells them anything else. When you are young at that time, before the world tells you what you are worth, your parents and yourself, you have an opportunity to build yourself up."

Akothee asked her what inspired her to write a book for children yet she doesn’t have any and, as a star, she had the option of writing her own story in an autobiography.

Lupita said, "I mean, I love children and I hope my window for having them has not passed, but because I was hurt as a child by my skin, I felt that a way to write this book would make my wound my weapon, and so that was almost to heal the wound inside myself but also to provide for kids today."

'Sulwe' was later adapted into an animated musical for Netflix.