diff --git a/impala/dbapi.py b/impala/dbapi.py
index c7b37b0f9..4249ca2d5 100644
--- a/impala/dbapi.py
+++ b/impala/dbapi.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def connect(host='localhost', port=21050, database=None, timeout=None,
             ldap_user=None, ldap_password=None, use_kerberos=None,
             protocol=None, krb_host=None, use_http_transport=False,
             http_path='', auth_cookie_names=None, http_cookie_names=None,
-            retries=3, jwt=None, user_agent=None):
+            retries=3, jwt=None, user_agent=None, cursor_configuration=None):
     """Get a connection to HiveServer2 (HS2).
 
     These options are largely compatible with the impala-shell command line
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ def connect(host='localhost', port=21050, database=None, timeout=None,
         This is used for auth_mechanism=JWT when using the HTTP transport.
     user_agent: A user specified user agent when HTTP transport is used. If none is specified,
         'Python/ImpylaHttpClient' is used
+    cursor_configuration: object that contains configuration options that will be passed to
+        each cursor, optional
     use_ldap : bool, optional
         Specify `auth_mechanism='LDAP'` instead.
 
@@ -201,7 +203,7 @@ def connect(host='localhost', port=21050, database=None, timeout=None,
                           http_cookie_names=http_cookie_names,
                           retries=retries,
                           jwt=jwt, user_agent=user_agent)
-    return hs2.HiveServer2Connection(service, default_db=database)
+    return hs2.HiveServer2Connection(service, default_db=database, cursor_configuration=cursor_configuration)
 
 
 class _DBAPITypeObject(object):
diff --git a/impala/hiveserver2.py b/impala/hiveserver2.py
index 73f4555ff..fd0c6dc95 100644
--- a/impala/hiveserver2.py
+++ b/impala/hiveserver2.py
@@ -58,11 +58,12 @@ class HiveServer2Connection(Connection):
     # thrift service
     # it's instantiated with an alive TCLIService.Client
 
-    def __init__(self, service, default_db=None):
+    def __init__(self, service, default_db=None, cursor_configuration=None):
         log.debug('HiveServer2Connection(service=%s, default_db=%s)', service,
                   default_db)
         self.service = service
         self.default_db = default_db
+        self.cursor_configuration = cursor_configuration
 
     def close(self):
         """Close the session and the Thrift transport."""
@@ -126,7 +127,11 @@ def cursor(self, user=None, configuration=None, convert_types=True,
 
         log.debug('.cursor(): getting new session_handle')
 
-        session = self.service.open_session(user, configuration)
+        session_configuration = {}
+        for conf in [self.cursor_configuration, configuration]:
+            if conf is not None:
+                session_configuration.update(conf)
+        session = self.service.open_session(user, session_configuration if session_configuration else None)
 
         log.debug('HiveServer2Cursor(service=%s, session_handle=%s, '
                   'default_config=%s, hs2_protocol_version=%s)',