Fred Chappell and Canton, North Carolina: Southern Literary Tour, Part Two: #10

The paper mill in Canton dominates the town with such a wonderful ferocity, its smell greeting the nose as much as its sight greets the eyes, that it is hardly surprising that the contemporary writer Fred Chappell - born in Canton - has made references to it in his novels. There, though, he calls the former Champion Mill (now Blue Ridge Paper Product, Inc.) Challenger Paper Mill.

(Chappell's latest collection of poems is the experimental Shadow Box (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2009), which is something of a new departure for him.)