Shortly after she wrapped Black Panther, Nyong’o had somewhat reluctantly begun work on her first book, Sulwe, which comes out this month. The idea came from a speech Nyong’o gave in 2014, at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood brunch, about colorism. “I received a letter from a girl,” Nyong’o said to the audience, “and I’d like to share just a small part of it with you: ‘Dear Lupita,’ it reads, ‘I think you’re really lucky to be this black but yet this successful in Hollywood overnight. I was just about to buy Dencia’s Whitenicious cream to lighten my skin when you appeared on the world map and saved me.”
Her words went viral at the time, and shortly came suggestions for a children’s book. But, says Nyong’o, “I just felt depleted. I was just like, I have nothing more to say. It’s all in the speech.” With time, and having felt the enormous potential of Black Panther, however, she returned to the idea. “Black Panther was the key I needed.”