He returned to Cape Verde 1950 where he participated in the creation of the magazine Restoration (with Jorge Pedro Barbosa and others), the Cultural Supplement (with Carlos Alberto Monteiro and others) and Boletim Cabo Verde (Cabo Verde Bulletin).
His cultural activity brought him to the attention of the local governor and he was deported to Mozambique.
He published poems, novels and essays, in Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole.
After independence, he returned to Cape Verde.
He wrote Vida e Morte de João Cabafume in 1976 which won the African Literary Award, an essay on Capeverdean culture in 1991 and a poetic anthology named Ladeira Grande in 1993.