diff --git a/RELEASE b/RELEASE
index 1d7aa2b..eef90c8 100644
--- a/RELEASE
+++ b/RELEASE
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@
 to update and share their patches against this branch.  For a full list
 of changes please see the Changelog file.
 
-* 0.5.8 May 10, 2012
+* 0.5.9 May 11, 2012
 
 General notes
 -------------
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 659914a..416bfb0 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.5.8
+0.5.9