diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+### 0.1.3.0
+
+- Updated after Pandoc *2.8* and the *String-to-Text* migration.
+
 ### 0.1.2.4
 
 - Removed *shebang* line as it may lead to compilation failures.
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
--- a/LICENSE
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 The following license covers this documentation, and the source code, except
 where otherwise indicated.
 
-Copyright 2016-2018, Alexey Radkov. All rights reserved.
+Copyright 2016-2019, Alexey Radkov. All rights reserved.
 
 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
diff --git a/pandoc-vimhl.cabal b/pandoc-vimhl.cabal
--- a/pandoc-vimhl.cabal
+++ b/pandoc-vimhl.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                    pandoc-vimhl
-version:                 0.1.2.4
+version:                 0.1.3.0
 synopsis:                Pandoc filter for native Vim code highlighting
 description:             Pandoc filter for native Vim code highlighting
         in HTML and PDF documents. Requires Vim and plugin
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 extra-source-files:      Changelog.md
 author:                  Alexey Radkov <alexey.radkov@gmail.com>
 maintainer:              Alexey Radkov <alexey.radkov@gmail.com>
-copyright:               2016-2018 Alexey Radkov
+copyright:               2016-2019 Alexey Radkov
 category:                Text
 build-type:              Simple
 cabal-version:           1.20
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
                        , temporary >= 1.1
                        , regex-compat
                        , cond >= 0.2
+                       , text
   default-extensions:    CPP
 
   if flag(debug)
diff --git a/vimhl.hs b/vimhl.hs
--- a/vimhl.hs
+++ b/vimhl.hs
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
-
 import Text.Pandoc.JSON
 import Text.Regex (mkRegex, splitRegex, matchRegexAll)
-import System.IO
+import System.IO (IOMode (WriteMode), openFile, hFlush)
 import System.IO.Temp
 import System.IO.Error
 import System.Directory
@@ -11,23 +9,38 @@
 import System.Exit
 import Data.Char (toLower)
 import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
-import Control.Arrow (first, (&&&))
+import Control.Arrow ((&&&), (***))
 import Control.Monad
 #if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,8,0)
 import Control.Applicative
 #endif
 import Control.Exception (bracket)
 import Control.Conditional hiding (unless)
+#if MIN_VERSION_pandoc_types(1,20,0)
+import Prelude hiding (readFile)
+import Data.Text.IO (readFile, hPutStr)
+import Data.Text (Text, unpack)
+#else
+import System.IO (hPutStr)
+#endif
 
+#if MIN_VERSION_pandoc_types(1,20,0)
+tOSTRING :: Text -> String
+tOSTRING = unpack
+#else
+tOSTRING :: String -> String
+tOSTRING = id
+#endif
+
 vimHl :: Maybe Format -> Block -> IO Block
 vimHl (Just fm@(Format fmt)) (CodeBlock (_, cls@(ft:_), namevals) contents)
-    | lookup "hl" namevals' == Just "vim" && fmt `elem` ["html", "latex"] = do
+    | lookup "hl" namevals' == Just "vim" && fmt' `elem` ["html", "latex"] = do
         let vimhlcmd =
-                unwords [cmd fmt, nmb]
+                unwords [cmd fmt', nmb]
                 where cmd "html"  = "MakeHtmlCodeHighlight"
                       cmd "latex" = "MakeTexCodeHighlight"
                       cmd x       = error $ "Unexpected format '" ++ x ++ "'"
-                      nmb | "numberLines" `elem` cls =
+                      nmb | "numberLines" `elem` cls' =
                               fromMaybe "-1" $ lookup "startfrom" namevals'
                           | otherwise = ""
             colorscheme =
@@ -58,7 +71,7 @@
                     let vimcmd =
                             unwords
                                 ["vim -Nen", cmds, vimrccmd, colorscheme
-                                ,"-c 'set ft=" ++ ft, "|"
+                                ,"-c 'set ft=" ++ ft', "|"
                                 ,vimhlcmd ++ "' -c 'w!", dst ++ "' -c 'qa!'"
                                 ,src
                                 ]
@@ -83,7 +96,10 @@
 #endif
                     readFile dst
         return $ RawBlock fm block
-    where namevals' = map (first $ map toLower) namevals
+    where fmt' = tOSTRING fmt
+          cls' = map tOSTRING cls
+          ft'  = tOSTRING ft
+          namevals' = map (map toLower . tOSTRING *** tOSTRING) namevals
 vimHl _ cb = return cb
 
 main :: IO ()