Renowned composer pens epic eco-poem for children

Martin Kiszko has created a kingdom where the royal family and its subjects still live as if they were in the middle ages, everyone speaks in rhyme and the realm is threatened by mounting piles of waste.

King Frank & the Knights of the Ecoquest started off as an idea in 2016 and has now become a 15-part radio play and children’s book.

“I was working with charity Frank Water as their poet in residence,” says Martin, a composer, musicologist, librettist and poet.

“The charity’s founder and CEO, Katie Alcott, told me that she had once become seriously ill from dirty drinking water after a trip to India. This fired her up to create a charity that now provides safe clean water for rural communities in India.

“Katie’s story made me think what it might be like for three knights in a forgotten kingdom on Earth to set out on a quest to find the lost Fountain of Frank; a source of safe clean water that would become the solution to the Kingdom of Frank’s own dirty water supply.”

Sarah Vonthron-Laver illustrated all the characters in the story. Image: Sarah Vonthron-Laver

Inspired by the Gloucester Road-based charity, King Frank’s story became one of the first epic eco-poems for children.

It explores climate change, desertification, deforestation, forest fires, in an accessible way; then knights find themselves tackling a mountain of scrap, a monster made of discarded plastics, a river of leachate poo and a meeting with a stranded polar bear and a ghostly clan of extinct animals.

What started as a poem was then commissioned by Fun Kids Radio for a 15-part series featuring singer and actress Toyah Willcox and Andrew Dunn, who starred in the TV sitcom Dinnerladies. Martin, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Bristol in 2016, also composed the music for the show.

“I’ve always been fascinated by epic poetry and wanted the challenge of writing a poem of greater substance and length,” says Martin. “The radio version of my poem has ended up as 22,500 words of rhyming couplets shared between nine actors playing nineteen parts. The whole epic radio drama version is 150 minutes long!”

The story of King Frank & the Knights of the Ecoquest has also been turned into a book. Illustrated by Sarah Vonthron-Laver and designed by Simon Bishop, Martin says it has been “hilariously funny and beautiful” to translate his work into a new medium.

Toyah Willcox (left, pictured with Martin) voices Haroldia the Herald. Photo: Martin Kiszko

Kiszko, who also studied Music, Fine Arts and Intermedia and a PGC at the University of Bristol, has worked on hundreds of TV programmes and films and has written two collections of poetry – Green Poems for a Blue Planet and Verse for the Earth.

“I hope listeners and readers will resonate with the obstacles the knights come across and understand that we too have similar challenges and must endeavour to be eco-warriors of valour to serve and protect planet Earth,” says Martin of King Frank & the Knights of the Ecoquest.

“Although the tale has a serious message, it is very funny and there are eco-chuckles as the characters have many mishaps along the way!”

Main photo: Martin Kiszko

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