Doug Lanzo is an award-winning internationally published poet and novelist. His debut novel, The Year of the Bear, is a heartwarming Maine adventure that won the 2023 Ames Award in Young Adult Books, was named a Finalist for the upcoming 2023 Hawthorne Prize and was a 2022 Firebird Award Winner in its Coming of Age category. 

Enjoyed by readers of all ages, it has been endorsed by New York Times bestselling author, Josh Lieb, acclaimed haiku author, Scott Mason and numerous other distinguished authors, pastors, coaches and university Board members.   Author Daphne Self even stated: “Lanzo could even be considered a modern Jack London.”  Published by Ambassador International, it is available for immediate order online at Amazon (where it has garnered almost universal five star reviews), barnesandnoble.com, indigo.com (in Canada), and numerous other retailers. 

Doug’s second book,  I Have Lived, is releasing April 30, 2024 and is available for pre-order on Amazon and other sites, including Ambassador International’s website.  It is a riveting, faith-infused romance suspense novella starring a heroic Army Ranger officer and combat medic whose character is defined through life-changing moments, including on the field of battle, together with his inspiring RN bride, a former medical missionary steeped in courage, sacrifice and Christ’s love. 

Doug’s poetry has exploded in recent years, with 399 of his poems having been published since 2019 in 67 literary journals and 7 anthologies across the U.S., Canada, England, Wales, Austria, Mauritius, India, Japan, Australia and the Caribbean, including in three Vita Brevis Press bestselling poetry anthologies and in domestic and international haiku anthologies.  These publications include Academy of the Heart and MindAkitsu Quarterly, Ancient Paths Online, Ariel Chart, Asahi Haikuist Network’s haiku column published in The Asahi Shimbun, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, The Bamboo Hut, Bear Creek Haiku, Better Than Starbucks, Breathe Bold Journal, Cafe Haiku’s sharing my solitude anthology, The Caribbean Writer, cattails, Chrysanthemum, Clayjar Review, Clean Fiction Magazine, Cold Moon Journal, Current Accounts,  Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Drabble, Failed Haiku, Faith on Every Corner, Faith Hope & Fiction, 50 Haikus, folk ku journal, Founder’s Favourites, Frameless Sky, Free XpresSion, Frogpond, Front Porch Review, Grand Little Things, Haiku Journal, haikuNetra, The Haiku Way to Healing Poetry Anthology, Haikuniverse, Last Leaves, Literary Yard, Living Haiku Anthology, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, The Pangolin Review, Password, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Penwood Review, Plum Tree Tavern, Poetry Pea, Presence Haiku Journal, Prune Juice Journal, Red Eft Review, Riverbed Review, Running Out of Time: Scars Publications 2022 Collection Book, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Scarlet Leaf Review, Scifaikuest, The Sciku Project, Shadow Pond Journal, The Skipjack Review, The Society of Classical Poets Journal (including as runner-up in its Best of 2020 Haiku Competition), Spirit Fire Review, The Starlight SciFaiku Review, Studio, Take 5ive Journal, Three Line Poetry, Time of Singing, tsuri-dōrō, Vita Brevis’ 2021 Poetry Anthology Brought to Sight & Swept Away, Vita Brevis’ Nothing Divine Dies: The Poetry of Nature Poetry Anthology, Vita Brevis’ 2022 Volume IV Poetry Anthology What is all this Sweet Work, Vita Brevis Press Poetry Magazine, Wales Haiku Journal, WestWard Quarterly, Wild Violet and The Zen Space.

Doug’s poetry is vivid and inspirational, spanning Japanese short-form poetry types, including haiku, senryu and tanka, as well as rhyming, hybrid and free verse poetry.  The genre of Doug’s diverse rhyming, hybrid and free verse poems encompass nature, tributes, civic, patriotic, inspirational, environmental, socially conscious, religious, geographic, space, fantasy, science fiction and sports.

He resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife and 15-year old identical twin sons, who are in their own right award-winning, published poets in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, enjoying nature, tennis, traveling, biking, snorkeling, fishing and chess.