Rick Van Bokel is a music journalist, musician, poet, and versatile performer from Leiden, and a traveler and musician. He published two travel books: "Never Above the Atlas" (2005) and "The Singing Palm in Cuba" (2007). He traveled as a journalist (musician) to Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution, to the land of fado in Portugal, and Finland. As a musician, he traveled to Senegal, Andalusia, Honduras, and Cuba. In 1999, his poetry collection "White Macedonica" was published, and in 2018, a poetry collection with a CD "Move Strategically" was released. In 2023, a CD "Dreaming Dancers" was published. He writes for the magazine Jazzism. He performs many solo shows and with various ensembles and works as a music teacher at the Spijkenisse Arts Center.