diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 5cbfacf23..b058bad3c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+Overview of changes leading to 1.4.8
+Tuesday, August 8, 2017
+====================================
+
+- Major fix to avar table handling.
+- Rename hb-shape --show-message to --trace.
+- Build fixes.
+
+
 Overview of changes leading to 1.4.7
 Tuesday, July 18, 2017
 ====================================
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ec9e29869..52134c877 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.64])
 AC_INIT([HarfBuzz],
-        [1.4.7],
+        [1.4.8],
         [https://github.com/behdad/harfbuzz/issues/new],
         [harfbuzz],
         [http://harfbuzz.org/])