Ken Kesey

Kesey gained prominence with the 1962 publication of *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*, a novel inspired by his time working at a veterans hospital. During this period, he also volunteered for experimental LSD testing. After completing his second novel, *Sometimes a Great Notion*, Kesey purchased an old school bus he named "Further." With Neal Cassidy at the wheel and supplies of LSD-laced Kool-Aid on board, Kesey and a group of friends known as The Merry Pranksters embarked on a cross-country journey to the 1964 New York World's Fair. It would be 28 years before Kesey published his third major novel, *Sailor Song*, in 1992. He later stated that he lost interest in the novel as an art form after experiencing the transformative power of the bus trip. The journey was later chronicled by Tom Wolfe in his 1968 book *The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test*. The film adaptation of *Cuckoo's Nest* won the 1974 Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture. Kesey, who had never seen the film, sued the producers for shifting the narrative focus away from the character of Chief Bromden, a schizophrenic Native American. Kesey was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992 and settled in Pleasant Hill in the mid-1960s, after serving four months in jail for a marijuana-related arrest in California. His distinctive red barn-house has since become a symbol of the psychedelic era, drawing visitors in tie-dyed clothing seeking inspiration.