diff --git a/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py b/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py
index 111e631f..d33800f6 100644
--- a/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py
+++ b/django_q/brokers/aws_sqs.py
@@ -51,9 +51,12 @@ def info(self):
 
     @staticmethod
     def get_connection(list_key=Conf.PREFIX):
-        return Session(aws_access_key_id=Conf.SQS['aws_access_key_id'],
-                       aws_secret_access_key=Conf.SQS['aws_secret_access_key'],
-                       region_name=Conf.SQS['aws_region'])
+        config = Conf.SQS
+        if 'aws_region' in config:
+            config['region_name'] = config['aws_region']
+            del(config['aws_region'])
+        return Session(**config)
+
 
     def get_queue(self):
         self.sqs = self.connection.resource('sqs')
diff --git a/docs/configure.rst b/docs/configure.rst
index 66136f43..9dddc1e2 100644
--- a/docs/configure.rst
+++ b/docs/configure.rst
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ All connection keywords are supported. See the `iron-mq <https://github.com/iron
 
 sqs
 ~~~
-To use Amazon SQS as a broker you need to provide the AWS region and credentials::
+To use Amazon SQS as a broker you need to provide the AWS region and credentials either via the config, or any other boto3 configuration method::
 
     # example SQS broker connection
 
@@ -241,9 +241,9 @@ To use Amazon SQS as a broker you need to provide the AWS region and credentials
         'queue_limit': 100,
         'bulk': 5,
         'sqs': {
-            'aws_region': 'us-east-1',
-            'aws_access_key_id': 'ac-Idr.....YwflZBaaxI',
-            'aws_secret_access_key': '500f7b....b0f302e9'
+            'aws_region': 'us-east-1',  # optional
+            'aws_access_key_id': 'ac-Idr.....YwflZBaaxI',  # optional
+            'aws_secret_access_key': '500f7b....b0f302e9'  # optional
         }
     }