diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 094094043acd155ca10cf251f7ec671488dc6b74..f3b7768b76592bb12b7fde9c2144e0f2202bd896 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
+Overview of changes leading to 1.7.0
+Monday, November 13, 2017
+====================================
+
+- Minor Indic fixes.
+- Implement kerning and glyph names in hb-ot-font.
+- Various DSO optimization re .data and .bss sizes.
+- Make C++11 optional; build fixes.
+- Mark all other backends "unsafe-to-break".
+- Graphite fix.
+
+
 Overview of changes leading to 1.6.3
 Thursday, October 26th, 2017
 ====================================
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b4c79a39b994a5283ddacb5fe1e3220a80240938..8faf3410f472af9211ddc49254e80bd35b71e7cf 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.64])
 AC_INIT([HarfBuzz],
-        [1.6.3],
+        [1.7.0],
         [https://github.com/behdad/harfbuzz/issues/new],
         [harfbuzz],
         [http://harfbuzz.org/])