Kesey’s Vehicle Now More a School Bus

Author Ken Kesey, the Merry Prankster whose 1964 psychedelic cross-country bus trip is the stuff of hippy legend, will do a reading at 8 p.m. Saturday in Mackey Auditorium in the Ruby Gerontology Center at Cal State Fullerton.

But don’t expect Kesey to dip into his classic novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” or even “Sometimes a Great Notion” for the free reading, which is co-sponsored by the university’s Poetry Society.

“I think I’ll be performing my story ‘The Sea Lion’ and the story ‘Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear,” Kesey said by phone from his farm in Oregon this week. “These things--especially the Tricker story--are well-written and well-oiled enough to be considered poetry. In fact, (Tricker) even rhymes.”

“Little Tricker the Squirrel” was published by Viking Children’s Books last year. Kesey said he has performed the story with the New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra at Lincoln Center and with a number of major orchestras around the country. It has even been performed as a ballet, he said.

He said “The Sea Lion,” released by Viking Children’s Books in September, “is a story that came out of the middle of the novel I have just finished and I perform it with masks and (Indian) costumes.”

Kesey’s costumed reading on Saturday night “will be a good kids-oriented program, and I’ll scare the water down their legs,” the author said with chuckle. “I love reading for kids audiences. I get a lot of juice out of reading for them.”

Kesey doesn’t plan to deliver a lecture, however.

“I don’t mix them anymore,” he said. “It kind of takes away the magic if you take your costumes off and do a talk. You’d never see Laurence Olivier on stage and then he takes off his clothes and gives a little talk.”

Kesey said, however, that he will sign copies of his books--and talk--after his reading.

Writers Conference: “Bringing Your Vision Into Realty” is the theme of the eighth annual Fall Writer’s Conference at Chapman University in Orange on Saturday.

The daylong conference will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Wilkinson Hall on the Chapman campus, 333 N. Glassell St. The registration fee at the door is $75.

Workshop speakers include:

- Larry Grobel, who has been called “the interviewer’s interviewer” by Playboy magazine and is the author of “Conversations with Capote” and “The Hustons.”

- Joseph Stefano, who wrote the screenplay for the Alfred Hitchcock classic, “Psycho,” and created the TV series, “The Outer Limits.”

- Sol Stein, who is the co-founder of Stein and Day Publishers, a playwright and the author of eight novels, including “The Magician.”

- Pan Kubis, a veteran writing instructor and the author of “The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction and Non-Fiction and Getting It Published.”

- Kathy Stumpe, a staff writer on television’s “Cheers.”

- Wendy Vinitski, an editor in the juvenile division of Price, Stern, Sloan Publishers.

- Luise Healey, an attorney who works in entertainment law and publishing.

- Nichole Miller, director of development for Stewart Pictures in conjunction with Peter Guber Entertainment.

- Beth Cobb, a journalist who writes the Bookmarks column for the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa Pilot.

For more information, call (714) 997-6750.