Ed McClanahan

Ed McClanahan is an American novelist, essayist, and professor.

Edward Poage McClanahan was born in Brooksville, Kentucky in 1932 to Edward Leroy and Jesse (Poage) McClanahan. He attended school there and later in nearby Maysville, Kentucky where the family relocated in 1948. McClanahan graduated from Miami University with a B.A. in English in 1955. He briefly attended Stanford University's graduate English program during the 1955-1956 academic year, where he studied under Richard Scowcroft and Malcolm Cowley; after failing to acclimate to the program, he received an M.A. in English from the University of Kentucky in 1958. From 1958 to 1962, McClanahan taught first-year composition and creative writing (in a course previously taught by Bernard Malamud) as an instructor at Oregon State University.

He received a Stegner Fellowship in Stanford University's creative writing program for the 1962-1963 academic year; immediately thereafter, he was selected for a Jones Lectureship by program director Wallace Stegner. During his time at Stanford—where he was also known by his hippie moniker "Captain Kentucky"—McClanahan became good friends with fellow Creative Writing Center alumni Ken Kesey (through their mutual friendships with Wendell Berry and Gurney Norman) and Robert Stone. As an active member of Kesey's band of Merry Pranksters, McClanahan introduced Stone to Kesey's circle. His memoir, Famous People I Have Known, humorously recollects many of his Prankster experiences.

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