diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b9b1f44a..628e6761 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 [build-system]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 requires = [
-    "setuptools>=47",
+    # avoid moving to https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/3593
+    # until we're ready
+    "setuptools>=61.0,<69.3",
 ]
 
 [tool.black]