Background
He was a son of January Frans van de Velde (wine merchant) and Maria Callaer.
He was a son of January Frans van de Velde (wine merchant) and Maria Callaer.
Van de Velde worked as a journalist for the Nieuwe Gazet and also published in Arsenaal en Nieuw Gewas. Writing Van de velde began his career as a journalist and literary writer (initially writing radio plays). In terms of literary prominence it was events outside his writing that ironically lead to some of his best writing.
In his semi-autobiographical books Galgenaas (Gallows Bird) and Recht Op Antwoord (A Right To An Answer) he chronicled his experiences of the justice system, prisons and the psychiatric institutions where he had been placed.
These incarcerations were the result of an addiction to the painkilling drug palfium (Dextromoramide) prescribed after undergoing several stomach operations. All of his books were written during the decade up to his death in 1970.
