diff --git a/docs/installation.md b/docs/installation.md
index 7cf8e4d79..617606817 100644
--- a/docs/installation.md
+++ b/docs/installation.md
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ Then, if you start the Python REPL and see the following:
 ```python
 >>> import narwhals
 >>> narwhals.__version__
-'1.8.0'
+'1.8.1'
 ```
 then installation worked correctly!
diff --git a/narwhals/__init__.py b/narwhals/__init__.py
index 2d29014ae..3c8b7b776 100644
--- a/narwhals/__init__.py
+++ b/narwhals/__init__.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 from narwhals.utils import maybe_get_index
 from narwhals.utils import maybe_set_index
 
-__version__ = "1.8.0"
+__version__ = "1.8.1"
 
 __all__ = [
     "dependencies",
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4099da1fa..efc02f9bb 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "narwhals"
-version = "1.8.0"
+version = "1.8.1"
 authors = [
   { name="Marco Gorelli", email="33491632+MarcoGorelli@users.noreply.github.com" },
 ]