Ferdinand Oyono

Ferdinand Léopold Oyono (born 1929) is an author from Cameroon whose work is recognized for humor that shows how easily people can be fooled. After obtaining his high school diploma in Yaounde, Oyons studied at the lycee of Provence, France and received his baccalaureate degree. After returning to Cameroon, Oyono worked in his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later represented Cameroon at the United Nations. He has also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for Cameroon.

Oyono's novels were written in French in the late 1950s and were only translated into English a decade or two afterward.

Among his works are:

• Une vie de boy (1956; translated as Houseboy in 1966), a diary-form novel that criticized the morality of colonialism
• Le Vieux Nègre et la médaille (1956; translated as The Old Man and the Medal in 1969)
• Chemin d'Europe (1960; translated as Road to Europe in 1989)