Agnès Gyr-Ukunda

Agnès Gyr-Ukunda (born 1956) is a Rwandan publisher and founder of , a not-for-profit publishing house of Rwandan children's literature.

Early life Gyr-Ukunda was born in Rwanda in 1956, where she was educated. The 1973 Rwandan coup d'état forced her family to flee to neighboring Burundi. In 1980, Gyr-Ukunda moved to Switzerland.

Career Amidst the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s, Gyr-Ukunda felt compelled to do something for the children of her country, despite living far away in Switzerland. In 1995, Gyr-Ukunda founded Éditions Bakame with her husband, Rwanda's only publishing house for children's books.

Since its establishment, Éditions Bakame has sold around half a million copies of its titles, all published in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda's official language. Éditions Bakame prints about 3 new titles each year. Its books are distributed to schools and libraries.

Gyr-Ukunda believes that books can help Rwanda's youth deal with the recent tramatizing events in Rwanda's history, such as the Rwandan genocide. Round table on publishing in Africa, 2017. Gyr-Ukunda is center. Gyr-Ukunda is also a founder of the Non-governmental organization Books for Rwandan Children. The NGO has offered courses African illustrators and writers, as well as "rucksack libraries" of books to give to schools.