Her first published work was No sirve la Luna blanca (1945),[8] for which she won the Athena Award from the University of Concepción.
[9] She is assigned to the "School of Subjectivity" of feminine literature in Chile and of contemporary Chilean writers.
[11] Her husband was Alfonso Bulnes Calvo (1885–1970), Chilean historian, essayist and diplomat.
[12] Along with María Carolina Geel [es], Cárdenas is considered to be an important and liberal writer in the field of feminist writing.
[13][14] Cárdenas studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and studio of André Lothe in Paris.