Richard Gold M. A. of Seattle founded the Pongo Teen Writing Project a nonprofit that offers unique therapeutic poetry programs to adolescents who are homeless in jail or in other ways leading difficult lives. In its 17 years Pongo has worked with over 6000 teens. The Pongo web site contains writing activities for distressed youth and resources for teachers: www. pongoteenwriting. org. Prior to founding Pongo Richard was managing editor of Microsoft Press. In 2010 Richard was named a Microsoft Integral Fellow honored for his work with Pongo by Bill and Melinda Gates and the Microsoft Alumni Foundation. A book of Richard's illustrated poetry The Odd Puppet Odyssey was published in 2003. In this book the character Pongo is a puppet who struggles awkwardly with becoming human until he aspires to compassion. Language: English