Born in the island of Fogo, Teixeira de Sousa earned a medical degree from the University of Lisbon and completed two specializations in tropical medicine and sanitary medicine. Teixeira de Sousa started his practice in Timor, but moved to his native islands of the Cabo Verde in 1949 where he stayed until 1979. While living in the islands, he taught at the local secondary school and became an elected mayor in the island of Sao Vicente. After independence, he took residence in Portugal where he continues to practice medicine and write. He has published extensively both in fiction and non-fiction and his essays and short stories, which first appeared in literary magazines in Cabo Verde and Portugal, are widely lauded and today he's considered one of the great kriol novelist, earning special praise for the Trilogy of the "Sobrados".