Lupita Nyong'o Shares New Audio Book Adaptation for 'Sulwe'

Kenyan-Mexican actressLupita Nyong'orecently announced that her successful children's book Sulwe will be available in an audio version. This comes after the children's book was first published in 2019 and received praise for its theme on colourism. Nyong'o reportedly shared on the behind the scenes of recording the Sulwe audiobook and the production for the animated musical.

Read: Lupita Nyong'o Releases Debut Children's Book 'Sulwe,' an Ode to Dark-Skinned Kids

The Oscar award-winning actress reportedly shared with Good Morning America (GMA) that the inspiration for the audio version came after she heard Spanish actress, Penelope Cruz, read it out loud for her daughter. Nyong'o revealed to GMA that Cruz's emotional response to Sulwe's experience of discrimination moved her to add voices to the characters to create a fitting mood. Nyong'o not only narrates the book but also lends her voice to each character in the book. The success of Sulwe has resulted in the works of the highly anticipated, upcoming animated musical which Nyong'o was tight lipped about except that she is part of the production team.

Sulwe is inspired by Nyong'o's own experience with colourism especially as she grew up with a sister with a skin complexion much lighter than hers. Colourism has been spotlighted over the years especially in Hollywood where light-skinned Black actors reportedly get more roles but also across the world in the Black diaspora. A year after Nyong'o released Sulwe, British-Nigerian actress, Beverly Naya, released the Netflix documentary Skin whichfocused particularly on Nigeria's widespread skin bleaching practice.

Nyong'o also shared that despite shooting for Black Panther 2, she had been active in the theatre scene acting in the role of Juliet in the Spanish version of Romeo and Juliet. Sulwe is available now on Audible.