Children's edition of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu's The Book of Joy coming this fall

A picture book version of a bestseller co-authored by the Nobel Peace Prize winners the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be published this fall.

Random House Children's Books announced Tuesday that The Little Book of Joy will come out Sept. 27, with American authors Rachel Neumann and Douglas Abrams collaborating on the text and illustrations provided by artist Rafael López.

In 2016, Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama worked together on The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into more than 40 languages.

Tutu died on Dec. 26, 2021 at the age of 90.

"We are thrilled and honoured that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu created this book with us that brings their important message of joy directly to children," Mallory Loehr, Random House Children's Books executive vice president and publisher, said in a statement.

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The beloved hero of the anti-apartheid movement died last December at the age of 90. He served as co-chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an experience he looked back on in his book No Future Without Forgiveness. Tutu spoke to Eleanor Wachtel in 2001

"Particularly in light of the Archbishop's passing, we are lucky to have this uplifting book that can inspire future generations of children to look at the world through his unique lens of wonder, generosity and celebration," Loehr said.