diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 4de3f659b0..42bfcde2ef 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-    "hugr-py": "0.16.0"
+    "hugr-py": "0.16.1"
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hugr-py/CHANGELOG.md b/hugr-py/CHANGELOG.md
index 98118f4d91..57cddca62b 100644
--- a/hugr-py/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/hugr-py/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.16.1](https://github.com/Quantinuum/hugr/compare/hugr-py-v0.16.0...hugr-py-v0.16.1) (2026-09-01)
+
+
+### Documentation
+
+* Simplify package description. ([#3040](https://github.com/Quantinuum/hugr/issues/3040)) ([2868f4a](https://github.com/Quantinuum/hugr/commit/2868f4a5aae74f969ea47caef6a13cec7e8c898e))
+
 ## [0.16.0](https://github.com/Quantinuum/hugr/compare/hugr-py-v0.15.4...hugr-py-v0.16.0) (2026-04-01)
 
 This release changes the default text serialization format from JSON to `MODEL_WITH_EXTS` (the JSON format is now deprecated).
diff --git a/hugr-py/pyproject.toml b/hugr-py/pyproject.toml
index 24938fa6f9..436de76115 100644
--- a/hugr-py/pyproject.toml
+++ b/hugr-py/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "hugr"
-version = "0.16.0"
+version = "0.16.1"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 description = "Quantinuum's common representation for quantum programs"
 license = { file = "LICENCE" }
diff --git a/hugr-py/src/hugr/__init__.py b/hugr-py/src/hugr/__init__.py
index 47f1f473e4..c1ee6a6184 100644
--- a/hugr-py/src/hugr/__init__.py
+++ b/hugr-py/src/hugr/__init__.py
@@ -18,4 +18,4 @@
 
 # This is updated by our release-please workflow, triggered by this
 # annotation: x-release-please-version
-__version__ = "0.16.0"
+__version__ = "0.16.1"