CC English Professor David Mason Named Creativity Prize Recipient - Colorado College

David Mason, an English professor at Colorado College, recently was named the 2009 Thatcher Hoffman Smith Creativity in Motion Prize recipient. The prize, given by the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences, is a biennial award honoring the creative process and is worth $40,000.

The award allows Mason more time to focus on creating the libretto for the opera adaptation of his verse novel "Ludlow," which tells the dramatic story of immigrants caught in a labor struggle in southern Colorado, culminating in the Ludlow Massacre of April 1914. Mason previously teamed with composer Lori Laitman for the 2008 opera "Scarlet Letter," her first full-length opera. With nine books written and edited, and poems published in such magazines as The New Yorker, Poetry, The New Republic, and The Nation, Mason was inspired to adapt “Ludlow” after his experience with the libretto for Laitman's "Scarlet Letter." Learn more about this project.

Mason will be honored at an event to be held in September.