Ken Kesey was born in Colorado in 1935 and has lived chiefly on the West Coast of America. He founded The Merry Pranksters, a group which toured the USA for three years, filming the country and the people. Accused and later convicted of possessing marijuana, Kesey took refuge for a time in Mexico. He became a cult figure after Tom Wolfe's documentary book about him, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test.

Apart from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which has become a modern classic, he is the author of Sometimes a Great Notion and The Demon Box.

In 1975, Milos Forman directed a screen adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Ken Kesey claimed to have never seen the movie. He had disputed the $20,000 he was initially paid for the film rights and he hated the fact that the film was not narrated by the character Chief Bromden.

Ken Kesey died in 2001.

Bibliography:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962)
Sometimes a Great Notion (1964)
Kesey's Garage Sale (1972)
Demon Box (1986)