Ken Kesey was an American novelist, essayist, and countercultural figure. He began writing his debut novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1960 following the completion of a graduate fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University; the novel was an immediate commercial and critical success when published two years later. The book was adapted into the Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1963 and adapted for a 1975 film directed by Miloš Forman, which won five Academy Awards. A prequel has recently been announced: Ratched is named for the book’s Nurse Ratched, and is set in 1947. Ratched will debut September 18 on Netflix.