Lupita Nyong'o has captured our hearts with her enthralling performances, from her Oscar-winning role in 12 Years a Slave to her bit part in the Star Wars reboot.
And now she's rocking the publishing world! The 34-year-old announced she is writing a book for five- to seven-year-olds, The New York Times reports.
The book will be called Sulwe, after the main character, who the actress described as a 'dark skinned girl who goes on a starry-eyed adventure, and awakens with a reimagined sense of beauty'.
The story, set in Kenya, follows the journey of five-year-old Sulwe as she seeks to lighten her skin since feels ashamed of having the darkest skin colour in her family.
However, her adventure will take her into the night sky, where she learns the see her own beauty in a new way.
This issue hits close to home for Lupita, who felt self-conscious about her complexion when she was younger.
She felt that including such a serious theme in a kids' book is important since absorbing these lessons at an early age can help children's future self-image.
The Oscar-winner has long championed matters of race and representation. In a viral 2014 speech on black women in Hollywood, Lupita reflected on a letter she received from a young fan who decided against lightening her skin after seeing the actress and her dark skin.
"My heart bled a little when I read those words. I remember a time when I too felt un-beautiful. 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... was that I'd wake up with lighter skinned," the Black Panther star said.
Lupita continued, "I hope that my presence on your screens and in magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel validation of your external beauty, but also, get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside."
She hopes that her book, as well, will teach children to reimagine their concept of beauty.
We applaud Lupita for bringing this vital issue to the fore. And we can't wait to pick up Sulwe when it hits the shelves in January 2019.
