diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-package.yaml b/.github/workflows/python-package.yaml
index 8cb1029..4f32ab5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-package.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-package.yaml
@@ -13,10 +13,11 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         python-version:
-          - "3.7"
-          - "3.8"
           - "3.9"
           - "3.10"
+          - "3.11"
+          - "3.12"
+
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 02d1e78..f164420 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ It takes care of:
 
 It works with [kafka-python][], and extra arguments are forwarded to it.
 
-[kafka-python]: https://github.com/dpkp/kafka-python
+[kafka-python]: https://github.com/wbarnha/kafka-python-ng
 
 
 ## Installing
diff --git a/kafka_schema_registry/__init__.py b/kafka_schema_registry/__init__.py
index bae3f41..f8a2fa7 100644
--- a/kafka_schema_registry/__init__.py
+++ b/kafka_schema_registry/__init__.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from kafka.admin import NewTopic
 from kafka.errors import TopicAlreadyExistsError, NoBrokersAvailable
 from requests import request
+from requests.exceptions import JSONDecodeError
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -86,9 +87,14 @@ def publish_schemas(
                 'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                 }
             )
-        if 'id' not in value_resp.json():
+        try:
+            obj = value_resp.json()
+        except JSONDecodeError:
+            logger.error(f'Error decoding response: {value_resp.text}')
+            raise
+        if 'id' not in obj:
             logger.error(f'No id in response: {value_resp.json()}')
-        value_schema_id = value_resp.json()['id']
+        value_schema_id = obj['id']
 
     key_schema_id = None
     if key_schema is not None:
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index 0d7066b..9923f15 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-pytest==6.2.5
-pytest-cov==3.0.0
-flake8==4.0.1
-responses==0.17.0
-twine==3.7.1
-wheel==0.37.1
+pytest==8.3.4
+pytest-cov==6.0.0
+flake8==7.1.1
+responses==0.25.3
+twine==6.0.1
+wheel==0.45.1
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 21c60b8..688223d 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-fastavro==1.4.9
-kafka-python==2.0.2
-requests==2.27.1
+fastavro==1.9.7
+kafka-python-ng==2.2.3
+requests==2.32.3
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 84978ac..ec702dd 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@
         "Changelog": "https://github.com/flix-tech/kafka-schema-registry/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md",  # noqa
         "Source": 'https://github.com/flix-tech/kafka-schema-registry',
     },
-    python_requires='>=3.7',
+    python_requires='>=3.9',
     install_requires=[
         'fastavro',
-        'kafka-python',
+        'kafka-python-ng',
         'requests',
     ],
     packages=['kafka_schema_registry'],