Yuri Rytkheu

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Yuri Rytkheu or Juri Rytcheu (Russian: Юрий Сергеевич Рытхэу; born Uelen village (Уэлен), 8 March 1930) is the most famous Chukchi writer, writing in both is native Chukchi language and Russian.

Born into a family of Chukchi hunters, he was given the name Rytkheu. Chukchis traditionally didn't use surnames, and when he requested his first official documents, he adopted the name and patronimyc from a Russian geologist he knew, and started using Rytkheu as surname.

He started writing articles and short poems in the newspaper "Soviet Chukotka" while a student at the Anadyr Technical School. In 1949 he entered the Leningrad State University and continued his literary activity there, publishing his short stories in Ogonyok and Novy Mir magazines. His first book, a collection of short stories, The People of Our Coast (Люди нашего берега), was printed in 1953, and in 1954 he become a member of the Union of Soviet Writers.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union his works ceased to be printed in Russia for a long time, but printed instead in German (over 250,000 copies) and other European languages by a Switzerland publisher Unionsverlag founded by Lucien Leitess. The only translated into English work of his extensive output is Сон в начале тумана (1970), published by Archipelago Books in 2005 as A Dream in Polar Fog.

Rytkheu currently lives in Anadyr.

[edit] Bibliography

German language, Unionsverlag
- Der Mondhund ISBN 3-293-00351-6
- Unna ISBN 3-293-20341-8
- Der letzte Schamane ISBN 3-293-20295-0
- Die Reise der Anna Odinzova ISBN 3-293-20230-6
- Traum im Polarnebel (1993) ISBN 3-293-20034-6 (A Dream in Polar Fog)
- Die Suche nach der letzten Zahl ISBN 3-293-20095-8
- Wenn die Wale fortziehen ISBN 3-293-20049-4
- Unter dem Sternbild der Trauer ISBN 3-293-20085-0
- Im Spiegel des Vergessens ISBN 3-293-20215-2 (In the Mirror of Forgetfulness)
Russian language
- "В зеркале забвения" ISBN 5-94214-013-8 (In the Mirror of Forgetfulness)