She started her literary career when some of her poems appeared in the anthology Generación Huracanada (1970), which was also the name of a literary group of which Manzano was part. Her first poetry book was El nudo y el trino, printed in 1972. She then published Casi siempre las tardes (1974), La gota en el cráneo (1976), La semana que no tiene jueves (1978), El ave que todo lo atropella (1980), Caja musical con bailarina incluida (1984), Carcoma con forma de paloma (1986) and Full de reinas (1991), which achieved commercial success.
