diff --git a/CHANGES.markdown b/CHANGES.markdown
--- a/CHANGES.markdown
+++ b/CHANGES.markdown
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+## Changes in 2.9.6
+  - Ensure color codes don't span newlines (#346, thanks @robx)
+  - Disable progress reporting on Buildkite
+  - Improve error messages on exceptions in hooks
+
 ## Changes in 2.9.5
   - Assume `--color` by default when running on GitHub Actions. Use
     `HSPEC_COLOR=no` or `--no-color` to opt out of this behavior.
diff --git a/hspec.cabal b/hspec.cabal
--- a/hspec.cabal
+++ b/hspec.cabal
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 
 name:             hspec
-version:          2.9.5
+version:          2.9.6
 license:          MIT
 license-file:     LICENSE
 copyright:        (c) 2011-2021 Simon Hengel,
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@
   build-depends:
       QuickCheck >=2.12
     , base ==4.*
-    , hspec-core ==2.9.5
-    , hspec-discover ==2.9.5
+    , hspec-core ==2.9.6
+    , hspec-discover ==2.9.6
     , hspec-expectations ==0.8.2.*
   exposed-modules:
       Test.Hspec
diff --git a/version.yaml b/version.yaml
--- a/version.yaml
+++ b/version.yaml
@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@
-&version 2.9.5
+&version 2.9.6