diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple.hs
@@ -102,7 +102,6 @@
   , Base.Error(..)
   ) where
 
-import           Control.Applicative
 import           Control.Exception
 import           Control.Monad (void, when, forM_)
 import           Control.Monad.Trans.Reader
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromField.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromField.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromField.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromField.hs
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
     , returnError
     ) where
 
-import           Control.Applicative (Applicative, (<$>), pure)
 import           Control.Exception (SomeException(..), Exception)
 import           Data.ByteString (ByteString)
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as B
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@
 import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as LT
 import           Data.Typeable (Typeable, typeOf)
-import           Data.Word (Word, Word8, Word16, Word32, Word64)
+import           Data.Word (Word8, Word16, Word32, Word64)
 import           GHC.Float (double2Float)
 
 import           Database.SQLite3 as Base
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromRow.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromRow.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromRow.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/FromRow.hs
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
      , numFieldsRemaining
      ) where
 
-import           Control.Applicative (Applicative(..), (<$>))
 import           Control.Exception (SomeException(..))
 import           Control.Monad (replicateM)
 import           Control.Monad.Trans.State.Strict
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Internal.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Internal.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Internal.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Internal.hs
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@
 
 module Database.SQLite.Simple.Internal where
 
-import           Prelude hiding (catch)
-
 import           Control.Exception (Exception)
 import           Control.Monad
 import           Control.Applicative
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Ok.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Ok.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Ok.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Ok.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP                #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE DeriveDataTypeable #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE DeriveFunctor      #-}
 
@@ -31,9 +32,13 @@
 
 import Control.Applicative
 import Control.Exception
-import Control.Monad(MonadPlus(..))
+import Control.Monad (MonadPlus(..))
 import Data.Typeable
 
+#if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,13,0) && MIN_VERSION_base(4,9,0)
+import Control.Monad.Fail
+#endif
+
 -- FIXME:   [SomeException] should probably be something else,  maybe
 --          a difference list (or a tree?)
 
@@ -72,7 +77,10 @@
     Errors es >>= _ = Errors es
     Ok a      >>= f = f a
 
+#if MIN_VERSION_base(4,9,0)
+instance MonadFail Ok where
     fail str = Errors [SomeException (ErrorCall str)]
+#endif
 
 -- | a way to reify a list of exceptions into a single exception
 
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Time/Implementation.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Time/Implementation.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Time/Implementation.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Time/Implementation.hs
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 import           Data.ByteString.Internal (w2c)
 import           Data.Char (isDigit, ord)
 import           Data.Fixed (Pico)
-import           Data.Monoid (Monoid(..))
 import qualified Data.Text as T
 import           Data.Time hiding (getTimeZone, getZonedTime)
 import           Prelude hiding (take, (++))
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/ToField.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/ToField.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/ToField.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/ToField.hs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as LT
 import qualified Data.Text.Encoding as T
 import           Data.Time (Day, UTCTime)
-import           Data.Word (Word, Word8, Word16, Word32, Word64)
+import           Data.Word (Word8, Word16, Word32, Word64)
 import           GHC.Float
 
 import           Database.SQLite3 as Base
diff --git a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Types.hs b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Types.hs
--- a/Database/SQLite/Simple/Types.hs
+++ b/Database/SQLite/Simple/Types.hs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE DeriveDataTypeable, DeriveFunctor, GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE DeriveDataTypeable, DeriveFunctor, GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving, CPP #-}
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- |
@@ -24,12 +24,14 @@
     ) where
 
 import           Control.Arrow (first)
-import           Data.Monoid (Monoid(..))
-import           Data.Semigroup (Semigroup(..))
 import           Data.String (IsString(..))
 import           Data.Tuple.Only (Only(..))
 import           Data.Typeable (Typeable)
 import qualified Data.Text as T
+
+#if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,11,0)
+import Data.Semigroup
+#endif
 
 -- | A placeholder for the SQL @NULL@ value.
 data Null = Null
diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 sqlite-simple: mid-level bindings to the sqlite database
 ========================================================
 
+[![Build Status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/nurpax/sqlite-simple.png)](http://travis-ci.org/nurpax/sqlite-simple)
+
 This library is a mid-level Haskell binding to the SQLite database.
 
 Sqlite-simple provides a convenient API to sqlite that does some level
@@ -21,10 +23,8 @@
 sqlite-simple performance against direct-sqlite, Python and
 C](http://nurpax.github.io/posts/2013-08-17-sqlite-simple-benchmarking.html).
 
-[![Build Status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/nurpax/sqlite-simple.png)](http://travis-ci.org/nurpax/sqlite-simple)
 
-Installation
-------------
+## Installation
 
 You can install [sqlite-simple from Hackage](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/sqlite-simple)
 with:
@@ -35,8 +35,7 @@
 
 A Windows user?  It works but please see [this note](https://gist.github.com/3907344) on direct-sqlite Windows installation.
 
-Examples of use
----------------
+## Examples of use
 
 Create a test database by copy&pasting the below snippet to your
 shell:
@@ -73,8 +72,7 @@
 tests](https://github.com/nurpax/sqlite-simple/blob/master/test/Simple.hs).
 
 
-Development
------------
+## Development
 
 The development roadmap for sqlite-simple is mostly captured in the
 github issue database.
@@ -89,14 +87,15 @@
 e-mail to the [database-devel mailing
 list](http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/database-devel).
 
-### Contributing
+## Contributing
 
 If you send pull requests for new features, it'd be great if you could also develop unit
 tests for any such features.
 
+## Credits
 
-Credits
--------
+- [Janne Hellsten](https://github.com/nurpax) author, long-term maintainer
+- [Sergey Bushnyak](https://github.com/sigrlami) current maintainer
 
 A lot of the code is directly borrowed from
 [mysql-simple](http://github.com/bos/mysql-simple) by Bryan O'Sullivan
diff --git a/sqlite-simple.cabal b/sqlite-simple.cabal
--- a/sqlite-simple.cabal
+++ b/sqlite-simple.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                sqlite-simple
-Version:             0.4.17.0
+Version:             0.4.18.0
 Synopsis:            Mid-Level SQLite client library
 Description:
     Mid-level SQLite client library, based on postgresql-simple.
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
     bytestring >= 0.9,
     containers,
     direct-sqlite >= 2.3.13 && < 2.4,
-    semigroups == 0.18.*,
+    semigroups >= 0.18 && < 0.20,
     template-haskell,
     text >= 0.11,
     time,
diff --git a/test/Errors.hs b/test/Errors.hs
--- a/test/Errors.hs
+++ b/test/Errors.hs
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
   , testErrorsExclusiveTransaction
   ) where
 
-import           Prelude hiding (catch)
 import           Control.Exception
 import qualified Data.ByteString as B
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as LB
@@ -22,7 +21,6 @@
 
 import           Common
 import           Database.SQLite.Simple.Types (Null)
-import           Database.SQLite3 (SQLError)
 
 -- The "length (show e) `seq` .." trickery below is to force evaluate
 -- the contents of error messages.  Another option would be to log
diff --git a/test/ParamConv.hs b/test/ParamConv.hs
--- a/test/ParamConv.hs
+++ b/test/ParamConv.hs
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
-{-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables, OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables, OverloadedStrings, CPP #-}
 
+#if MIN_VERSION_base(4,9,0)
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -Wno-overflowed-literals #-}
+#endif
+
 module ParamConv (
     testParamConvNull
   , testParamConvInt
@@ -13,7 +17,6 @@
   , testParamConvComposite
   , testParamNamed) where
 
-import           Control.Applicative
 import           Data.Int
 import           Data.Word
 import           Data.Time
@@ -133,10 +136,10 @@
   -- TODO should _rows be forced to make sure parsers kick on the
   -- returned data?
   execute conn "INSERT INTO dt (t1,t2) VALUES (?,?)"
-    (read "2012-08-12" :: Day, read "2012-08-12 01:01:01" :: UTCTime)
+    (read "2012-08-12" :: Day, read "2012-08-12 01:01:01 UTC" :: UTCTime)
   [_,(t1,t2)] <- query_ conn "SELECT t1,t2 from dt" :: IO [(Day, UTCTime)]
   assertEqual "day" (read "2012-08-12" :: Day) t1
-  assertEqual "day" (read "2012-08-12 01:01:01" :: UTCTime) t2
+  assertEqual "day" (read "2012-08-12 01:01:01 UTC" :: UTCTime) t2
 
 
 testParamConvBools :: TestEnv -> Test
@@ -240,5 +243,3 @@
   executeNamed conn "INSERT INTO np (b) VALUES (:b)" [":b" := True]
   [Only t1] <- query_ conn "SELECT b FROM np"
   True @=? t1
-
-
diff --git a/test/Simple.hs b/test/Simple.hs
--- a/test/Simple.hs
+++ b/test/Simple.hs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
 
 module Simple (
@@ -20,13 +21,16 @@
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as LBS
 -- orphan IsString instance in older byteString
 import           Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 ()
-import           Data.Monoid ((<>), mappend, mempty)
 import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as LT
 import           Data.Time (UTCTime, Day)
 
 import           Common
 
+#if !MIN_VERSION_base(4,11,0)
+import Data.Monoid ((<>))
+#endif
+
 -- Simplest SELECT
 testSimpleOnePlusOne :: TestEnv -> Test
 testSimpleOnePlusOne TestEnv{..} = TestCase $ do
@@ -86,7 +90,7 @@
 testSimpleTime :: TestEnv -> Test
 testSimpleTime TestEnv{..} = TestCase $ do
   let timestr = "2012-08-20 20:19:58"
-      time    = read timestr :: UTCTime
+      time    = read (timestr ++ " UTC") :: UTCTime
   execute_ conn "CREATE TABLE time (t TIMESTAMP)"
   execute conn "INSERT INTO time (t) VALUES (?)" (Only time)
   [Only t] <- query_ conn "SELECT * FROM time" :: IO [Only UTCTime]
@@ -116,7 +120,7 @@
 testSimpleTimeFract :: TestEnv -> Test
 testSimpleTimeFract TestEnv{..} = TestCase $ do
   let timestr = "2012-08-17 08:00:03.256887"
-      time    = read timestr :: UTCTime
+      time    = read (timestr ++ " UTC") :: UTCTime
   -- Try inserting timestamp directly as a string
   execute_ conn "CREATE TABLE timefract (t TIMESTAMP)"
   execute_ conn (Query (T.concat ["INSERT INTO timefract (t) VALUES ('", T.pack timestr, "')"]))
@@ -177,7 +181,7 @@
 
     makeReadable s =
       let s' = if T.length s < T.length "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" then T.append s ":00" else s
-      in T.unpack . T.replace "T" " " $ s'
+      in (T.unpack . T.replace "T" " " $ s') ++ " UTC"
 
 testSimpleUTCTimeTZ :: TestEnv -> Test
 testSimpleUTCTimeTZ TestEnv{..} = TestCase $ do
@@ -212,7 +216,7 @@
   mapM_ assertResult times
   where
     assertResult tstr = do
-      let utct = read . T.unpack $ tstr :: UTCTime
+      let utct = read . (++ " UTC") . T.unpack $ tstr :: UTCTime
       [Only t] <- query conn "SELECT ?" (Only utct) :: IO [Only T.Text]
       assertEqual "UTCTime" tstr t
 
diff --git a/test/TestImports.hs b/test/TestImports.hs
--- a/test/TestImports.hs
+++ b/test/TestImports.hs
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
   ) where
 
 -- Test file to test that we can do most things with a single import
-import           Control.Applicative
 import qualified Data.Text as T
 
 import           Common