Ton van der Lee

Anthony Marinus "Ton" van der Lee (born 1956, Bussum) is a Dutch author and documentary film maker. He became famous internationally with his book Solitaire, an autobiographical novel describing his life in the tiny desert settlement Solitaire in Namibia. He settled there in 1996, becoming the third inhabitant when he joined Percy Cross (better known as Moose) and his brother in law. Ton van der Lee left Solitaire in late 1999 to travel onwards into Africa. He published ten books about Africa and made several television documentaries about the continent, including the prize winning film Holy Mud about traditional adobe architecture in the Niger valley in Mali, and the series Spirits of Africa about African shamans. Van der Lee is the son of Antonij van der Lee (1923–2000), professor in German linguistics, and Maria Louise Kieviet (1923–2015), granddaughter of Cornelis Johannes Kieviet, who was the author of the Dik Trom series of children's books. At the request of the publisher and the town where the original Dik Trom books were written, van der Lee has written three modern Dik Trom sequels.