The article highlights the literary activity of the famous poet and writer, one of the founders of the Balkarian written literature, Bert Ismailovich Gurtuev (1910-2001). The evolution of the classic's work is traced, and his contribution to the development of national artistic thought is determined. New biographical facts are presented that expand the understanding of the artist's importance in the socio-cultural life of the people. The author's skill, manifested in various literary genres, is noted. The work presents the area of the author's work, which includes more than a dozen poetry collections ("Kyzyl enle" ("Red Voices", 1934); "Zharik tang" (Bright Morning, 1958); "Shuehla Arasinda" ("Among friends", 1963); "Chomartlyk" ("Generosity", 1969); "Taula chakyradyla" ("The Mountains call", 1974); "Ak kegyurchyun" ("The White Dove", 1980); "Mardakemle kitaba" ("The Book of Miniatures", 1990), etc.), novellas ("Bekir", 1933; "Adilgery", 1961; "Zhashaunu kilanchlary" ("Zigzags of Life", 1988), novel ("Zhangy Talisman" ("New Talisman", 1970), testi-fying to the aesthetic potential and versatility of the artist's talent. Among the artistic features of B. Gurtuev's work is the glorification of folk life, the everyday work of the villagers, the depiction of everyday life, national traditions, and ethnopsychology. In the writer's literary practice, the cen-tral place is occupied by the poem "Chalgychyla" ("Mowers", 1957), in which the national flavor is clearly expressed, the theme of rural labor is embodied. The study found that works based on the author's personal perceptions and impressions are differentiated by historical and vital authen-ticity.