Ken Kesey, Author of ‘Cuckoo’s Nest,’ Suffers Stroke

EUGENE, Ore. — Author Ken Kesey was recovering in a hospital Sunday from a mild stroke suffered last week.

Kesey, 62, awoke from an afternoon nap Thursday at his home in Pleasant Hill and found that he was unable to use his right arm, said Ed Jolley, his stepfather.

The author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was admitted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, where he has since regained some use of his arm, Jolley said.

He was listed in fair condition Sunday and was expected to be transferred out of the intensive care unit Monday, a nursing supervisor said.

Kesey was a major counterculture figure in the 1960s. He and a group of friends nicknamed the Merry Pranksters made a cross-country bus trip in 1964 that Tom Wolfe chronicled in his book “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” Kesey’s other books include “Sometimes a Great Notion” and “Last Go Round.”