diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 489e960ed..a29cd7595 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: reticulate
 Type: Package
 Title: Interface to 'Python'
-Version: 1.38.0.9000
+Version: 1.39.0
 Authors@R: c(
   person("Tomasz", "Kalinowski", role = c("ctb", "cre"),
          email = "tomasz@posit.co"),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 5983f5957..f1d4f092f 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# reticulate (development version)
+# reticulate 1.39.0
 
 - Python background threads can now run in parallel with the R session (#1641).