After leaving the Film Academy, De Winter made some television series, like
Junkieverdriet and
De (ver)wording van de jonge Dürer. The latter, which was also rewritten into a novel, is the story of an unemployed young boy who does not know how to handle life, and who goes slowly but inevitably insane. Until 1982 De Winter also wrote reviews for the weekly magazine
Vrij Nederland. His first successful novel was
Zoeken naar Eileen W. (1981). A film version of this was made by
Rudolf van den Berg. In 1981 De Winter also wrote
Place de la Bastille. In 1986 the novel
Kaplan was published. The
protagonist of this novel is a writer who is searching for the truth about birth, love and death. In 1990 the novel ''Hoffman's honger
was published. Hoffman's honger'' is a literary
thriller set in
Prague. ''Hoffman's honger
was followed in 1991 by the novel Supertex
. In 1992 the novel De ruimte van Sokolov
was published. Just like Hoffman's honger
, De ruimte van Sokolov'' is a literary thriller, this time set in
Israel. In 1995 De Winter wrote
Zionoco, the story of a
rabbi, who has lost his faith, and is searching for his Jewish roots. In the same year, his book
Serenade was published as the "
Boekenweekgeschenk". De Winter's latest novels are
De hemel van Hollywood, which was published in 1997, ''God's Gym
, which was published in 2002, and Het recht op terugkeer'', published in 2008. Most of these works feature protagonists searching—in particular, for a
Jewish identity. These attempts to bring order out of chaos are a result of discontent with seemingly empty and aimless lives. De Winter became more involved in political writings in newspapers and magazines, and appearances on television, possibly the most recognizable of these being his many articles in support of Israel and his support for an "Islamic Enlightenment". On 26 December 2007, de Winter announced a stop to his political writings on blogs and magazines and that he was considering a one-year sabbatical with his family to California. One year turned into three years and he moved back to the Netherlands and he started writing for Dutch and German newspapers again. De Winter continued publishing opinion articles in newspapers in the Netherlands, such as on the
racism trial against Geert Wilders, criticisms of
Barack Obama, the
European Union, the
Euro currency and financial aid for members of the Euro area. Since early 2020 de Winter supports Black Lives Matter. De Winter is a controversial figure. In 2025 he criticised the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam for cancelling a concert in which the 'cantor' of the Israeli Defence Force was singing. De Winter commented that "Joseph Goebbels would happily give the Concertgebouw management a pat on the back." == Personal life ==