Biography+of+Ken+Kesey

Ken Kesey September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001 was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado to dairy farmers Frederick A. Kesey and Ginevra Smith. He was brought up in a very religous home where he learned about Christian stories and Christian ethics. In 1946, the family moved to Springfield, Oregon. A champion wrestler in both high school and college, he graduated from Springfield High School in 1953. In 1956, while attending college at the University of Oregon in neighboring Eugene, Kesey eloped with his high-school sweetheart, Norma "Faye" Haxby, whom he had met in seventh grade. They had three children, Jed, Zane, and Shannon; Kesey had another child, Sunshine, in 1966 with fellow Merry Prankster Carolyn Adams. Kesey attended the University of Oregon's School of Journalism, where he received a degree in speech and communication in 1957, where he was also a brother of Beta Theta Pi. He was awarded a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship in 1958 to enroll in the creative writing program at Stanford University, which he did the following year. While at Stanford, he studied under Wallace Stegner and began the manuscript that would become One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Also while at Stanford he was involved with government-funded experiments in the psychology department involving chemicals like LSD and mescalin to earn money. When he was working as an orderly in the psychiatric ward of a VA hospital he had hallucinations about an Indian sweeping the floors. He lived in Palo Alto and La Honda in California and partied heavily (including partying with the Hells Angels) and experimented with many drugs. His friends were know as the Merry Pranksters. Kesey was a supporter of the band the Warlocks which later became known as the Greatful Dead. Everything the group did inspired Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. When LSD became illegal, Kesey and the Merry Pranksters fled to Mexico and Kesey tried to fake a suicide to get out of being prosecuted. When he returned to the United States he was arrested on a marajuana charge and spent 5 months in jail. When he was released he moved to a farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregan and taught a graduate writing seminar at the University of Oregan. Kesey died November 10, 2001 after he had cancer surgery on his liver.