Naranjo served as Costa Rica's ambassador to Israel in the 1970s and also as the country's minister of culture (1974-1976).

[3] Naranjo wrote multiple books, including poetry, novels, storybooks, and essays.

After Naranjo returned to Costa Rica in 1964, having worked for United Nations in Venezuela, her literary career began to take off.

She enrolled in a writer's workshop, led by Lilia Ramos (Costa Rican essayist), she began reading work by Latin American authors such as Carlos Fuentes, Juan Rulfo, Jorge Luis Borges, and Octavio Paz, and she published her first volumes of poetry, Hacia tu isla (1966) and Misa a oscuras (1964).

[4] In 1970, after much success with Camino al mediodía, which won second place in The Central American and Panama Flower Games (Los Juegos Florales Centroamericanos y de Panamá), she began to teach workshops (writing classes), and as a direct result of these classes, Naranjo was inspired to write her next notable novel, Responso Por El Niño Juan Manuel (1970).