diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 9714ff0..ff0177c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Release 1.6.1: (upcoming)
--------------------------
+Release 1.6.1: 22nd August 2024
+-------------------------------
 
 This release is primarily portability and minor bug fixes.
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2f44e5a..67649b8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
-AC_INIT(htscodecs, 1.6.0)
+AC_INIT(htscodecs, 1.6.1)
 
 # Some functions benefit from -O3 optimisation, so if the user didn't
 # explicitly set any compiler flags, we'll plump for O3.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ AM_EXTRA_RECURSIVE_TARGETS([fuzz])
 #       libhtscodecs.so.1.1.0
 
 VERS_CURRENT=3
-VERS_REVISION=5
+VERS_REVISION=6
 VERS_AGE=1
 AC_SUBST(VERS_CURRENT)
 AC_SUBST(VERS_REVISION)
diff --git a/htscodecs/htscodecs.h b/htscodecs/htscodecs.h
index 09c38a5..8d67e67 100644
--- a/htscodecs/htscodecs.h
+++ b/htscodecs/htscodecs.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2021-2023 Genome Research Ltd.
+ * Copyright (c) 2021-2024 Genome Research Ltd.
  * Author(s): James Bonfield
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
  * Note currently this needs manually editing as it isn't automatically
  * updated by autoconf.
  */
-#define HTSCODECS_VERSION 100600
+#define HTSCODECS_VERSION 100601
 
 /*
  * A const string form of the HTSCODECS_VERSION define.