diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index a29cd759..d4b9f5a8 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: reticulate
 Type: Package
 Title: Interface to 'Python'
-Version: 1.39.0
+Version: 1.39.0.9000
 Authors@R: c(
   person("Tomasz", "Kalinowski", role = c("ctb", "cre"),
          email = "tomasz@posit.co"),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index f1d4f092..59e0d66d 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# reticulate (development version)
+
 # reticulate 1.39.0
 
 - Python background threads can now run in parallel with the R session (#1641).