Directly after the war he worked as a bank clerk and later as a journalist. During this time he began writing plays and poetry. In 1941 Roa Bastos won the Ateneo Paraguayo prize for "Fulgencia Miranda", although the book was never published. In the early 1940s he spent significant time on the yerba mate plantations in northern Paraguay, an experience he would later draw upon in his first published novel, "Hijo de hombre" ("1960; Son of Man"). In 1942 he was appointed editorial secretary for the Asunción daily "El País".