Kenneth Elton Kesey ( September 17 , 1935 â `` November 10 , 2001 ) was an American writer best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest . Kenneth Elton `` Ken '' Kesey ( ; September 17 , 1935 â `` November 10 , 2001 ) was an American author , best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest ( 1962 ) , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s .