Leon de Winter was born in 's-Hertogenbosch in 1954, the son of Dutch Jews. He has worked as a freelance writer and filmmaker since 1976, and lives in the Netherlands. In 2002, he was awarded the ›Welt Literature Prize‹; in 2006, the ›Buber-Rosenzweig Medal‹ for his fight against Antisemitism; and in 2009, the ›Brabant Literature Prize‹ for The Right of Return.