diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 35e9eefdc1a..626dafe9a7a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Overview of changes leading to 8.2.1
+Monday, September 18, 2023
+====================================
+- Unicode 15.1 support.
+
+
 Overview of changes leading to 8.2.0
 Friday, September 8, 2023
 ====================================
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6de79ae086c..eece69107be 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.64])
 AC_INIT([HarfBuzz],
-        [8.2.0],
+        [8.2.1],
         [https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/issues/new],
         [harfbuzz],
         [http://harfbuzz.org/])
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 3bc98e2bedc..324d1dd05e0 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project('harfbuzz', 'c', 'cpp',
   meson_version: '>= 0.55.0',
-  version: '8.2.0',
+  version: '8.2.1',
   default_options: [
     'cpp_eh=none',          # Just to support msvc, we are passing -fno-exceptions also anyway
     # 'cpp_rtti=false',     # Do NOT enable, wraps inherit it and ICU needs RTTI
diff --git a/src/hb-version.h b/src/hb-version.h
index 902d51ec020..73fa16cd865 100644
--- a/src/hb-version.h
+++ b/src/hb-version.h
@@ -53,14 +53,14 @@ HB_BEGIN_DECLS
  *
  * The micro component of the library version available at compile-time.
  */
-#define HB_VERSION_MICRO 0
+#define HB_VERSION_MICRO 1
 
 /**
  * HB_VERSION_STRING:
  *
  * A string literal containing the library version available at compile-time.
  */
-#define HB_VERSION_STRING "8.2.0"
+#define HB_VERSION_STRING "8.2.1"
 
 /**
  * HB_VERSION_ATLEAST: