Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey (1935–2001) grew up in Springfield, Oregon, where he was a champion wrestler and star student. He attended Stanford University's creative writing program on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, studying alongside Larry McMurtry and others, and simultaneously volunteered for CIA-funded experiments with psychedelic drugs at a local veterans' hospital. He also worked as a night aide on the ward—experiences that fed directly into his debut novel's hallucinatory power and institutional detail. This author hub collects 1 work in the Canon Compass ranking, led by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.