The Year
of the Bear
“The Year of the Bear tells a coming-of-age story, its action seamlessly interwoven with moments of indigenous wisdom, personal discovery, and universal truth. If the immediate experience is cinematic, its aftereffect is inspirational. A compelling and uplifting work.”
The Year
of the Bear
“If the immediate experience is cinematic, its aftereffect is inspirational.
A compelling and uplifting work.” Scott Mason, author of The Wonder Code
“Winner of the Best Young Adult Book of the Bear, Hawthorne Prize Finalist and Firebird Award Winner”
I Have Lived
I Have Lived is a “breathtaking” and “exceptional” romance suspense novella starring a US Army Ranger officer on a high-stakes rescue mission in Afghanistan and his courageous bride, a registered nurse who battles apartheid, poverty and disease around the world. Named Best Novella of 2024 (American Book Fest Awards) and Double Gold Medal winner at the 2024 Firebird Awards (Novella and Romance Suspense categories), I Have Lived has been hailed by veterans, medical personnel and first responders as a “compelling and inspirational story of true heroes” that is “breathtaking” and “extraordinary.”
Doug Lanzo is an award-winning internationally published poet and novelist. His Newbery-nominated debut novel, The Year of the Bear, is a heartwarming coming of age 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. His second work of fiction, a romance suspense book titled I Have Lived, won Best Novella of 2024 in American Book Fest’s 21th Annual Awards as well as double gold medals in the 2024 Firebird Award’s Romance/Suspense and Novella categories.
Endorsed by New York Times bestselling author, Josh Lieb, as “an enthralling adventure” and “a rare treat,” The Year of the Bear has been praised by renowned poet Scott Mason as “a compelling and uplifting work” and by other authors as “deeply moving” and “exhilarating.” Award-winning author Daphne Self even wrote: “Lanzo could even be considered a modern Jack London.”
Hailed as a “compelling and inspirational story of true heroes” that is “breathtaking,” “captivating,” “exceptional” and “extraordinary,” I Have Lived has been universally praised by military veterans and enjoyed by medical professionals around the world.
Published by Ambassador International, each is available for immediate order online at Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, indigo.com and numerous other online retailers around the world.
Doug’s poetry manuscript Moral Courage to Shine with Christ’s Love was adjudged “beautiful” and “exceptional,” winning 3rd place in Voice & Virtue’s April, 2025 Poetry Manuscript Competition. His poetry has exploded in recent years, with 572 of his poems having been published since 2019 in 78 literary journals, 9 anthologies and 2 books 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 Mind, Akitsu 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, Cantos, The Caribbean Writer, cattails, Chrysanthemum, Clayjar Review, Clean Fiction Magazine, Cold Moon Journal, Current Accounts, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Drabble, Eucalypt, Failed Haiku, Faith on Every Corner, Faith Hope & Fiction, 50 Haikus, Fireflies’ Light, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, 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, Halcyon House, Last Leaves, Literary Yard, Living Haiku Anthology, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, Minute Musings, 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, smols, The Society of Classical Poets Journal (including as runner-up in its Best of 2020 Haiku Competition), Soul Poetry, Prose & Arts Magazine, Spirit Fire Review, The Starlight SciFaiku Review, Studio, Taj Mahal Review, 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, Voice & Virtue Literary Magazine, Wales Haiku Journal, The Wee Sparrow Haiku Nook, 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 17-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, basketball, traveling, biking, snorkeling, fishing and chess.