The Chukchi Bible

The Chukchi Bibleis a collection of the myths and tales of Yuri Rytkheu's own shaman father. The stories compose both a moving history of the Chukchi people who inhabit the shores of the Bering Sea, and a beautiful cautionary tale, rife with conflict, human drama, and humor. We meet fantastic characters: Nau, the mother of the human race; Rau, her half-whale husband; and finally, the dark spirit Armagirgin, who attempts to destroy nature's harmony by pitting the two against each other. The Chukchi Biblemoves through Arctic tundra, sea, and sky-and beyond-introducing readers to an extraordinary mythology and a resilient people, in hauntingly poetic prose. Yuri Rytkheuwas born in 1930 in the Chukotka Peninsula of the northeastern tip of Siberia, home of the Chukchi, a disappearing people inhabiting one of the most majestic and inhospitable environments on earth.

Yuri Rytkheu was born in Uelen, a village in the Chukotka region of Siberia. He sailed the Bering Sea, worked on Arctic geological expeditions, and hunted in Arctic waters, in addition to writing over a dozen novels and collections of stories. His novel A Dream in Polar Fog was a Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize Notable Book in 2006. In the late 1950s, Rytkheu emerged not only as a great literary talent, but as the unique voice of a small national minority – the Chukchi people, a shrinking community residing in one of the most majestic and inhospitable environments on earth.

Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse translated Rytkheu’s novel A Dream in Polar Fog. Born in the former Soviet Union, she now lives in London with her husband and daughter.