Genius in Two Worlds

Born and raised in New York, Neil Claremon graduated from Cornell University and received a Master’s Degree from the University of Arizona. While working on his PhD at Stony Brook University, his first book of poetry, “East by Southwest,” was published by Simon & Schuster.

Because of this early work, Claremon was invited to become the director of the National Endowment for the Arts “Southwest Poetry Program,” where for five years he collaborated with prominent American and Native American writers and with Native American and Mexican Indian cultures and shamanism—profoundly influencing his future.

Claremon wrote his acclaimed novel, “Borderland,” in 1975, one of the first contemporary books to consider alternative healing techniques. It was cited in the New York Times for “breaking a new literary terrain,” and the Bloomsbury Review called him “a shaman and an original thinker.”

In addition to his novels and poetry, Claremon has written screen scripts and synopses of novels for film and television. In 1991, Claremon published his now classic book, “Zen in Motion—Lessons from a Master Archer on Breath, Posture, and Intuition,” a product of his tutelage with renowned Zen Master Kobun Chino Otogawa, who helped fashion Zen Buddhism in the U.S.

Claremon, his partner, Ruth, and his horse, Chatto, balance their time between Westchester, New York, and Tucson, Arizona, where he pursues his interest in cosmology. Zen, shamanism, Kabbalah, and healing continue to inspire his work and his life.