Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef" was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Kessel was born to a Jewish family in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Litvak physician. From 1905 to 1908, Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France in 1908. He studied in lycée Masséna, Nice and lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris and took part in the First World War as an aviator. He was also an aviator during the Second World War, in the Free French Groupe de Bombardement n° 1/20 "Lorraine" (342 Squadron RAF) with RAF Bomber Command, with Romain Gary, who was also a talented French novelist.
