Yuri Rytkheu
| Yuri Sergeyevich Rytkheu Юрий Сергеевич Рытхэу |
|
|---|---|
| Born | Rytkheu 8 March 1930 Uelen, Russia, Soviet Union |
| Died | 14 May 2008 (aged 78) Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Nationality | Chukchi |
| Citizenship | Russia |
| Alma mater | Leningrad State University |
| Period | 1947–2008 |
| Genre | prose |
| Notable awards |
Maxim Gorky RSFSR State Prize Order of the Red Banner of Labour (USSR) Order of Friendship of Peoples (USSR) Order of the Badge of Honor (USSR) Grinzane Cavour Prize (Italy) Prix RFI-Témoin du monde (France) |
Yuri Sergeyevich Rytkheu (Russian: Ю́рий Серге́евич Рытхэ́у, 8 March 1930 – 14 May 2008) was a Chukchi writer, who wrote in both his native Chukchi and in Russian. He is considered to be the father of Chukchi literature.
Yuri Rytkheu was born 8 March 1930 to a family of trappers and hunters. His birthplace, the village of Uelen, was then in the Chukotka District, Far Eastern Territory, RSFSR, USSR; it is now part of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. His grandfather was a shaman.
At birth, he was given the name ”Rytkheu”, which means ”unknown” in the Chukchi language. Since Soviet institutions did not recognize Chukchi names and the Chukchi do not commonly use surnames, in order to obtain his passport he used his first name as his surname and assumed the first name and patronymic of a Russian geologist he knew.
Rytkheu graduated from the Soviet 7-year school in Uelen. He wanted to continue his education at the Institute of the Peoples of the North, but was not selected to study there, because of his young age. Consequently, he decided to go to Leningrad on his own, to continue his study. This travel was delayed for several years. In order to earn money for this journey, the future writer took odd jobs; for instance, he worked on the seas and on geological expeditions and trapped animals, stevedored at a hydrography base. Rytkheu moved to Anadyr and enrolled in a vocational school. In 1947 he started writing articles for the Anadyr district-based magazine Soviet Chukotka (Советская Чукотка), which published his first stories and poems. In Anadyr, Rytkheu met the Leningrad-based scholar Pyotr Skorik, who was leading a linguistic expedition in the area and who was responsible for helping the young writer move to Leningrad.
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