Dulce Maria Cardoso

Dulce Maria Cardoso was born in 1964 in Fonte Longa, Trás-os-Montes, Portugal. At six months old, she moved with her mother to Luanda, Angola, where her father lived; eleven years later, the family returned to Portugal at the beginning of the civil war. She decided to become a writer at the age of 14, but first studied law and worked as a lawyer. Her literary work has received numerous awards, including the European Union Prize for Literature in 2009. Her novel *O Retorno* was her fifth publication and marked her breakthrough as a writer.