Luís Cardoso

Six years later, in 2021, Cardoso won the Prêmio Oceanos for his sixth novel, The Pumpkin Planter (Sonata for a Fog) (O Plantador de Abóboras (Sonata para uma Neblina) (2020)). The pumpkins mentioned in that title, and in the novel, serve as a metaphor for East Timor, which depends heavily upon oil exploitation, but in Cardoso's view ought to return to more sustainable alternatives. In the novel, Cardoso's female narrator takes the reader through three wars involving East Timor: the Manufahi Rebellion of 1911–1912, the Japanese invasion and occupation during World War II, and the Indonesian invasion and subsequent occupation of the former Portuguese colony.

In 2015, Cardoso told Portuguese news agency Lusa (translation):

In his written works, which have been translated into several languages, Cardoso repeatedly takes up the history of East Timor. His first book, The Crossing (2002) (Crónica de uma Travessia (1997)) has the flavour of a colonial Bildungsroman, but is in fact an autobiographical memoir of his early days in Portuguese Timor, and subsequent exile in Lisbon. In Owl Eyes – Cat Eyes (Olhos de Coruja, Olhos de Gato Bravo (2001)), he relates the profound consequences that Portugal's "Carnation Revolution" had for its tiny, isolated colony in Southeast Asia. In The Last Death of Colonel Santiago (A Última Morte do Coronel Santiago (2003)), the narrator, an expatriate East Timorese resident in Portugal, returns to his home country and is confonted with the crimes committed by his ancestors.

After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, Cardoso went to Portugal on a scholarship for further training at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), University of Lisbon, from which he obtained a degree in silviculture. One of his fellow students at the ISA was the writer José Eduardo Agualusa. He also qualified in law, environmental politics and mathematics.

Luís Cardoso (born 8 December 1958) is a contemporary East Timorese writer. His work focuses on the history of his homeland. It is written in Portuguese and has been translated into other languages including French and English. In 2021, he won the Prêmio Oceanos for his novel The Pumpkin Planter (Sonata for a Fog) (O Plantador de Abóboras (Sonata para uma Neblina) (2020)).