diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index f4a9ae5..84c19f7 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -4,6 +4,24 @@
 * https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/commits/
 * https://bitbucket.org/xi/pyyaml/commits/
 
+5.3b1 (2019-12-21)
+
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/290 -- Use `is` instead of equality for comparing with `None`
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/270 -- fix typos and stylistic nit
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/309 -- Fix up small typo
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/161 -- Fix handling of __slots__
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/358 -- Allow calling add_multi_constructor with None
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/285 -- Add use of safe_load() function in README
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/351 -- Fix reader for Unicode code points over 0xFFFF
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/360 -- Enable certain unicode tests when maxunicode not > 0xffff
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/359 -- Use full_load in yaml-highlight example
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/244 -- Document that PyYAML is implemented with Cython
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/329 -- Fix for Python 3.10
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/310 -- increase size of index, line, and column fields
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/260 -- remove some unused imports
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/163 -- Create timezone-aware datetimes when parsed as such
+* https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/363 -- Add tests for timezone
+
 5.2 (2019-12-02)
 ------------------
 
diff --git a/lib/yaml/__init__.py b/lib/yaml/__init__.py
index 4703dff..91b97ea 100644
--- a/lib/yaml/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/yaml/__init__.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from loader import *
 from dumper import *
 
-__version__ = '5.2'
+__version__ = '5.3b1'
 
 try:
     from cyaml import *
diff --git a/lib3/yaml/__init__.py b/lib3/yaml/__init__.py
index b7cb86a..524354f 100644
--- a/lib3/yaml/__init__.py
+++ b/lib3/yaml/__init__.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 from .loader import *
 from .dumper import *
 
-__version__ = '5.2'
+__version__ = '5.3b1'
 try:
     from .cyaml import *
     __with_libyaml__ = True
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1905fe5..9f872b9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 
 NAME = 'PyYAML'
-VERSION = '5.2'
+VERSION = '5.3b1'
 DESCRIPTION = "YAML parser and emitter for Python"
 LONG_DESCRIPTION = """\
 YAML is a data serialization format designed for human readability