diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 47386662..80dcaf7e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ Changes
 
 All issue numbers are relative to https://github.com/Toblerity/Fiona/issues.
 
-1.9.6 (TBD)
------------
+1.9.6 (2024-03-07)
+------------------
 
 - Ensure that geometry types in a schema are translated to a linear type, as
   geometry instances are (#1313).
diff --git a/fiona/__init__.py b/fiona/__init__.py
index d918d0fc..5582c182 100644
--- a/fiona/__init__.py
+++ b/fiona/__init__.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@
     "remove",
 ]
 
-__version__ = "1.9.6dev"
+__version__ = "1.9.6"
 __gdal_version__ = get_gdal_release_name()
 
 gdal_version = get_gdal_version_tuple()