Born in Cameroon, Ferdinand Oyono was educated in local schools and in France, where he studied law and administration. Since 1960 he has served in the Cameroonian diplomatic corps. His international reputation for humorous, satiric writing rests on his 1956 publication of The Houseboy, which has been widely translated. The novel, written as a diary of an African houseboy, bitterly attacks French colonialism in Africa.