Your Contributions

Read Why Did he Do That or Christmas Eve.

FY Central would like to thank Richard Gold at Pongo Publishing Teen Writing Project for supplying our initial work by teens through his project. Please read more about Pongo.

If you would like to contribute to this section, send it to us at Your Contributions. We will review all submissions and respond to you or post them within a few days.

You can also mail submissions to:

Child Advocacy Central at the
University of Washington School of Law
William Gates Hall
Box 353020
Seattle, WA 98195-3020

Unfortunately, we cannot return submissions so please send us only items we can keep. We will credit all authors and artists by publishing first names only.

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Since 1992, the Pongo Publishing Teen Writing Project has worked with teens who are in jail, on the streets, or in other ways leading difficult lives. We help them to express themselves in poetry, and the young people often write about traumatic life experiences. Then each summer we publish chapbook compilations of the teens' work.

In their writing, Pongo asks the teens to reveal something about who they are as people. Sadly, what often emerges are themes of early childhood loss, including abuse, neglect, abandonment, and sudden death. Also, one learns about the teens' feelings of being trapped in a violent milieu, and about their unhappy dependence on drugs and alcohol. We believe this writing represents a different perspective on a population that is often feared, reviled, and pushed away by society.

Through this work, the Pongo Publishing Teen Writing Project hopes to help distressed teens express feelings, build self-esteem, and take better control of their lives. A second goal is to help the community to a better understanding of the teens' circumstances. The third goal is to support charities that assist youth.

Eighty-percent of the books published by Pongo are given away to jailed teens and also to judges, charities, and libraries. In its Seattle home, Pongo has received grants, recognition, and support from such sources as Children's Hospital, The Breneman Jaech Foundation, YouthCare, Northwest Bookfest, Graham & Dunn PLC, B.D.O. Seidman, "The Seattle Weekly," "The Seattle Times," Bumbershoot Arts Festival, The Windermere Foundation, and The Starbucks Foundation. The Pongo Teen Writing Project received an award for the "Most Significant Contribution by a Press or Individual" at the Bumbershoot 2000 Book Fair.

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