[1][4][5] 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.

[1][2] Cardoso has also worked as a Timorese storyteller, as a columnist for Fórum Estudante magazine, and as a Professor of Tetum and Portuguese Language.

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.

[7] 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.

[3][7] As the first Timorese to win the Prêmio Oceanos, Cardoso was congratulated by President Francisco Guterres and his predecessor José Ramos-Horta.

According to Cardoso, the Timorese have a patriotic duty to record in a book the history of their country and their lives, and the freedom to choose the topic.