Hoping for the safe return of Bokey, Kuliya named her newborn son Oralkhan ("oral" in Kazakh means "come back").

[2] After graduation from Chingistai school named after Sultanmahmut Toraygirov in 1961, he worked as a youth guide for a local Pioneer organization and a tractor driver in the "Altai" sovkhoz.

It was a fellow writer Sherkhan Murtaza who recognized an emerging talent in a tractor driver from Chingistai and brought him to Almaty to connect with the thriving urban writing community.

The first collection of short stories “Kamshyger” (“A man with a whip”), printed by the “Zhazushy” publishing house in 1970, brought a young writer well deserved recognition.

The same publisher later issued several books of his short stories and novellas: “Urker” (“Pleiades”, 1971), “Kaidasyn, kaska kulynym?” (“Where are you, my little foal?”, 1973), “Muztau” (“Ice Mountain”, 1975).

Oralkhan Bokeev's collections of short stories and novellas “An salady shagyldar” (“The dunes are singing”, 1978), “Urker auyp barady” (“The Pleiades are overturning”, 1981), “Bizdin jakta kys uzak” (“The winters here are long”, 1984) were issued by the publishing house “Zhalyn”.

His play “Kulynym menin” (“My little foal”) was printed by “Oner” publishers in 1986, and his essay collection “Uyikym kelmeidi” (“No sleep”) was issued by “Zhazushy”.

The plays “Kulynym menin” (“My little foal”, 1974), “Teketires” (“The clash of the goats”, 1976), “Kar kyzy” (“The snow girl”, 1982), “Zymyraidy poezdar” (“The trains are speeding by”, 1984), “Zhau tylyndagy bala” (“The boy behind enemy lines”, 1985), “Men sizden korkamyn” (“I am afraid of you”, 1987) were performed in the main and regional theaters of Kazakhstan and some of the former Soviet Union republics.