Yuri Rytkheu

Yuri Ryktheu was a Russian author best known for the “Seedbank” series of novels. He was born in Uelen in the Siberian region of Chukotka. He had a very active life as he hunted in Arctic waters, worked on Arctic geological expeditions, sailed the Bering Sea, and wrote more than a dozen collections of stories and novels. His bestselling novel “A Dream in Polar Fog” won the Notable Book Pacific Rim Prize in 2006. During the 1950s, Yuri became one of the most popular literary talents and the voice of the Chukchi people, a small national minority that needed a voice. Himself a member of the Chukchi, he became a unique voice for the almost disappearing community that lives in one of the most inhospitable yet majestic environments on the planet.