KarunaNews Story

Tonye Faloughi-Ekezie wrote her first book to explain to her son, Ugo, why people came to play with his sister, Simone, who had Down’s syndrome, but not him. She couldn’t find a book to help, so she wrote Ugo and Sim Sim: What is Down Syndrome? Sim Sim, Simone’s nickname, now features in five books. Faloughi-Ekezie spent the first three years of her daughter’s life taking her to hospitals in the US and the UK, away from her husband and son. Writing helped her take back some control. She is among Nigerian authors filling a gap in the children’s books market in Nigeria. Poet and author Lola Shoneyin’s Ouida Books, which is running Book Storm as part of the Book Buzz Foundation, aims to support the publication of 100 children’s books by the end of 2027.