diff --git a/src/hictkpy/__init__.py b/src/hictkpy/__init__.py
index 44aaf54..8ef9076 100644
--- a/src/hictkpy/__init__.py
+++ b/src/hictkpy/__init__.py
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
 
-from importlib.metadata import version
+def _get_hictkpy_version() -> str:
+    from importlib.metadata import version
+
+    return version("hictkpy")
+
 
 from ._hictkpy import (
     File,
@@ -19,7 +23,7 @@
     is_scool_file,
 )
 
-__version__ = version("hictkpy")
+__version__ = _get_hictkpy_version()
 __all__ = [
     "__doc__",
     "File",