Have a pint in honor of UO alumnus Ken Kesey at the Rogue Public House on Thursday, April 3, from 6-9 p.m. University of Oregon Libraries staff will be on hand at 844 Olive Street to share stories about the Kesey collection and discuss its collaboration with Rogue Ales for Ken Kesey Night.

The university purchased the Kesey collection – a 121-box archive of the author’s manuscripts, artwork, collages, photographs and correspondences dating back to 1960 – in October. The UO Libraries are still raising funds for organizing, preserving and digitizing the materials.

In December Rogue Ales introduced “One Brew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and a portion of the proceeds is used to help the library maintain the Ken Kesey Collection. The new ale is "a distinctly Northwest beer," brewed with hops and barley from Rogue's own farms in Independence and the Tygh Valley.

Kesey has been praised as one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. He was raised in Springfield and received a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the UO in 1957 before enrolling in the creative writing program at Stanford University and beginning what would be his first novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

- by Melissa Foley, Office of Public Affairs Communications