He would become acquainted with the famous author, who assessed and gave advice about his poetry, as well as a short story, Scheiding van goederen (1954), which was published episodically in the magazine Standpunt.

His friendship with Elsschot helped him to get a job working as a journalist for the Nieuw Gazet in 1947, writing about a wide range of topics, including drama, football, politics and society of the day.

The debate about van de Velde's imprisonment and censorship was reignited by Recht op antwoord (1969), a pamphlet describing his treatment and with criticism of the Belgian legal system.

Fellow writers like Hubert Lampo, Jeroen Brouwers and Walter van den Broeck campaigned for his release, and he met the then-Minister of Justice, Alfons Vranckx.

Van de Velde died on 30 May 1970 from an accidental overdose of Palfium and a large amount of alcohol in an Antwerp café, only three days before he was supposed to start a drug rehabilitation program at the Jellinek clinic in Amsterdam.