Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, along with D2 Productions, Plan B and Potboiler Productions, has secured the rights to develop Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah into a major feature film in which Nyong’o will also star.

Americanah tells the epic love story of young Nigerians, Ifemelu and Obinze; a romance that spans continents, visas, phone cards, and breakups, while exploring the cruelties and the humor of both the modern immigrant experience and the difficulty of finding your way home. The winner of the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Americanah was selected as one of the “Ten Best Books of the Year” by The New York Times Book Review, the BBC, and Newsday.

“It is such an honor to have the opportunity to bring Ms. Adichie’s brilliant book to the screen. Page after page I was struck by Ifemelu and Obinze’s stories, whose experiences as African immigrants are so specific and also so imminently relatable. It is a thrilling challenge to tell a truly international story so full of love, humor and heart,” says Nyong’o.

Lupita Nyong’o made her feature debut in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. For her portrayal as Patsey, Nyong’o received the Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress as well as numerous other awards, including the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Critics’ Choice Award. This summer she begins production on the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: Episode VII. Then, Nyong’o will lend her voice to Jon Favreaus The Jungle Book. Also a filmmaker, Nyong’o served as the creator, director, editor, and producer of the award-winning feature-length documentary, In My Genes, about the treatment of Kenya’s albino population.

(Photo Credit: Alexi Lubomirski for Lancôme)