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Ken Kesey was born in Colorado in 1935. His family moved to Oregon where he attended the state university before going on to study creative writing at Stanford University.
During his time there he participated in a government-funded study on the effects of psychoactive drugs, including LSD and cocaine. It was this experience that formed the foundation for his best-known novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was later adapted into a five-times Academy Award-winning film starring Jack Nicholson.
In the aftermath of the book's success he began to host his famous "Acid Test" parties, the key feature of which was the use of LSD by Kesey and his guests. He was a close friend to some of the most iconic figures of the beat generation including, amongst others, Allan Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and Jack Kerouac.
In 1965, Kesey faked his own death after being caught in possession of marijuana. After a brief spell in Mexico he was eventually arrested and served five months in prison. In the years after his release, Kesey devoted most of his time to writing and achieved a vast literary output, largely consisting of articles and short stories. He died in 2001.
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