Kiba Lumberg (Kirsti Leila Annikki Lumberg) is one of the most visible and versatile Romani artists and activists in Finland. Lumberg was born in Lappeenranta in 1956 into a Finnish Kale family and much of her work has been inspired by her childhood and early youth.
She studied art, design and music in Finland and elsewhere. Her oeuvre comprises novels, comic books (2010), children’s books and scripts, including her screenplay for a television mini-series (1997), which was rewritten as a play for the theatre in 2013. Her three novels (2004, 2006, 2008) were published as the ‘Memesa Trilogy’ in 2011. She has organised and taken part in various socially committed performances, courses, workshops and art exhibitions in Finland and elsewhere, including at the first Romani Pavilion at the 52th Venice Biennale in 2007.
Novels
Lumberg, Kiba. 2004. Musta perhonen [The Black Butterfly]. Turku: Sammakko.
Lumberg, Kiba. 2006. Repaleiset siivet [Tattered Wings]. Turku: Sammakko.
Lumberg, Kiba. 2008. Samettioyö [The Velvet Night]. Turku: Sammakko.
Lumberg, Kiba. 2011. Memesa-trilogia [Memesa Trilogy]. Turku: Sammakko [all of the above three novels published in one volume].
Children’s book
Majander, Kaarina / Lumberg, Kiba. 2012. Emma ja yllätysvieras [Emma and an Unexpected Guest]. Helsinki: Kiban Aurinkogalleria.
Comic books
Lumberg, Kiba. 2010. Hullun taiteilijan päiväkirja [Diary of a Mad Artist]. Helsinki: Kiban Aurinkogalleria.
Lumberg, Kiba. 2010. Gipsy Comix! Helsinki: Kiban Aurinkogalleria.
Television series
Tumma ja hehkuva veri [The Dark and Glowing Blood], written by Kiba Lumberg, directed by Eija-Elina Bergholm, 1997.
Videos
Gräi-Hevonen [Horse; documentary video], written and directed by Kiba Lumberg, 1990.
Mustalaiskuvia [Gipsy Pictures], written by Kiba Lumberg, 1999.
Viisi helsinkiläistä [Five from Helsinki], written and directed by Kiba Lumberg, 2004.