“Colorful Colorado” is, of course, a bit redundant as Colorado gained its name from being a place of beautiful colors: blue skies and waters, green fields and forests, snow-topped mountains and natural treasures. Colorado is home to some of America’s most beautiful national parks: Rocky Mountain in the northeast of the state and Mesa Verde in the southwest corner of the state. Denver, the famous “mile high city” (stay hydrated!) has nearby attractions: Union Station, the Denver Zoo, and the Center for Colorado Women’s History museum, among others. Step outside the convention hotel to find the famed 16th Street pedestrian mall designed by I. M. Pei: a shopping, dining, and street entertainment mecca.

Our 2023 Convention is celebrating an author of color, American novelist Toni Morrison (1931-2019) with student papers written about her novels and by bringing to Denver the four authors of The Toni Morrison Book Club, a delightful blend of literary criticism, memoir, and personal anecdote written by four colleagues brought together to discuss Morrison’s novels.

To support our “Colorful Colorado” theme, convention theme paper awards will also be given to academic papers that explore the works of writers of color. To be considered for a convention theme award, please select “convention theme” as your theme keyword, or submit your paper in the “Multicultural American Literature (African, Latinx, Native, Asian)” category.

Lastly, the Denver 2023 Convention features Brenda Peynado’s wonderful short story collection The Rock Eaters. While these stories could be described as colorful, they can also be exhilarating, thought-provoking, and, at times, terrifying. They are best read with a buddy, so please persuade your friends to read The Rock Eaters and to chat about them with you in your chapters and in “Colorful Colorado.”