From 1949 until 1954 he studied literature at Leningrad State University. He was only slightly older than 20 when his works started appearing in "Young Leningrad" (Молодой Ленинград), and then later on in other periodicals such as "Ogonyok", "Young World" (Молодой мир), "The Far East" (Дальний Восток) and "" (Смена). In 1953, the publishing company Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard) published his first collection of stories "The People of Our Coast" (Люди нашего берега), in Russian. This book was later translated into Chukchi by A. Smolyana (А. Смоляна). While still a student, Rytkheu also translated the works of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Gorky and into Chukchi. In 1954, he was accepted into the USSR Union of Writers.