Around Swedish America in 
Day 26 - Swan River
Most people know about Wilhem Moberg's Emigrant books that were filmed with Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman in the leading roles. Few people know that there is another Swedish immigrant book that is regard as an even bigger literary master piece. The book "Kaanans Land" was written by the Swedish writer Sven Delblanc who was born in Swan River.
"I was born May 26, 1931, in the small pioneer town of Swan River, Manitoba, Canada, as a tender dependent of George V, King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India and much more," wrote Sven Delblanc in an introduction to his book Kaanans Land. "Our lord, in his gentle mood, thought that I would be born as the Earl of Grosvenor, the oldest son of the multimillionaire old Duke of Westminster. The devil wanted me as the ninth son of a beggar in Calcutta. As our lord felt old and tired he had to agree to a slim compromise: I was born as the first son to a Swedish immigrant in Manitoba".
When tough pioneer life and economic difficulties became too much for the Delblanc family, they returned to Sweden. Sven's father eventually came back to Manitoba with a new family somehow drawn to a "life of poverty and failure on the Canadian prairies." Sven Delblanc (1931-1996) wrote more than 30 novels, a Swedish literary history and countless articles, making him one of Sweden's most prolific and successful authors. A book with Sven Delblanc's letters to his Canadian half-sister, Alice, published after the author succumbed to cancer, document his links with Canada that always held a very special place in his heart. There is an English translation of Kaanans Land that has been with a prominent Canadian publishing house for ages, but sadly they have never published it.