diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 54a3d2fe..7be64c00 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 project(
   'PyWavelets',
   'c', 'cython',
-  version: '1.6.0.dev0',
+  version: '1.6.0rc1',
   license: 'MIT',
   meson_version: '>= 1.1.0',
   default_options: [
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b41dc00b..e419f090 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ requires = [
 
 [project]
 name = "PyWavelets"
-version = "1.6.0.dev0"
+version = "1.6.0rc1"
 # TODO: add `license-files` once PEP 639 is accepted (see meson-python#88)
 #       at that point, no longer include them in `py3.install_sources()`
 license = {file = "LICENSE"}
diff --git a/util/version_utils.py b/util/version_utils.py
index df66e8cc..bdf7a4b3 100644
--- a/util/version_utils.py
+++ b/util/version_utils.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 MAJOR = 1
 MINOR = 6
 MICRO = 0
-ISRELEASED = False
+ISRELEASED = True
 VERSION = '%d.%d.%d' % (MAJOR, MINOR, MICRO)