diff --git a/pybktree.py b/pybktree.py
index 9715f99..b3d8c33 100644
--- a/pybktree.py
+++ b/pybktree.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 __all__ = ['hamming_distance', 'BKTree']
 
-__version__ = '1.0'
+__version__ = '1.1'
 
 _getitem0 = itemgetter(0)
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 835cc7c..cba06bf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,11 +2,19 @@
 
 import os
 import re
+import sys
 from distutils.core import setup
 
 
+# Read files as byte strings on Python 2.x, unicode strings on 3.x
+if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
+    open_args = {}
+else:
+    open_args = {'encoding': 'utf-8'}
+
+
 # Because it's best not to import the module in setup.py
-with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'pybktree.py')) as f:
+with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'pybktree.py'), **open_args) as f:
     for line in f:
         match = re.match(r"__version__.*'([0-9.]+)'", line)
         if match:
@@ -17,7 +25,7 @@
 
 
 # Read long_description from README.rst
-with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'README.rst')) as f:
+with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'README.rst'), **open_args) as f:
     long_description = f.read()