diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2e0e7ff9..ebd1ee50 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ INCLUDE (CheckCSourceCompiles)
 INCLUDE (CheckStructHasMember)
 INCLUDE (CheckLibraryExists)
 
-PROJECT (c-ares LANGUAGES C VERSION "1.25.0" )
+PROJECT (c-ares LANGUAGES C VERSION "1.26.0" )
 
 # Set this version before release
 SET (CARES_VERSION "${PROJECT_VERSION}")
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ INCLUDE (GNUInstallDirs) # include this *AFTER* PROJECT(), otherwise paths are w
 # For example, a version of 4:0:2 would generate output such as:
 #    libname.so   -> libname.so.2
 #    libname.so.2 -> libname.so.2.2.0
-SET (CARES_LIB_VERSIONINFO "12:1:10")
+SET (CARES_LIB_VERSIONINFO "13:0:11")
 
 
 OPTION (CARES_STATIC        "Build as a static library"                                             OFF)
diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.md b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
index 001f926d..4dddfe0f 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
@@ -1,29 +1,38 @@
-## c-ares version 1.25.0 - Jan 3 2024
+## c-ares version 1.26.0 - Jan 26 2024
 
-This is a maintenance release.
+This is a feature and bugfix release.
+
+Features:
+
+* Event Thread support.  Integrators are no longer requried to monitor the
+  file descriptors registered by c-ares for events and call `ares_process()`
+  when enabling the event thread feature via `ARES_OPT_EVENT_THREAD` passed
+  to `ares_init_options()`. [PR #696](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/696)
+* Added flags to `are_dns_parse()` to force RAW packet parsing.
+  [PR #693](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/693)
 
 Changes:
 
-* AutoTools: rewrite build system to be lighter weight and fix issues in some semi-modern systems. It is likely this has broken building on some less common and legacy OSs, please report issues. [PR #674](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/674)
-* Rewrite ares\_strsplit() as a wrapper for ares\_\_buf\_split() for memory safety reasons. [88c444d](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/88c444d)
-* The ahost utility now uses ares\_getaddrinfo() and returns both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses by default. [PR #669](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/669)
-* OpenBSD: Add SOCK\_DNS flag when creating socket. [PR #659](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/659)
+* Mark `ares_fds()` as deprected.
+  [PR #691](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/691)
 
 Bugfixes:
 
-* Tests: Live reverse lookups for Google's public DNS servers no longer return results, replace with CloudFlare pubic DNS servers. [1231aa7](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/1231aa7)
-* MacOS legacy SDKs require sys/socket.h before net/if.h [PR #673](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/673)
-* Connection failures should increment the server failure count first or a retry might be enqueued to the same server. [05181a6](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/05181a6)
-* On systems that don't implement the ability to enumerate network interfaces the stubs used the wrong prototype. [eebfe0c](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/eebfe0c)
-* Fix minor warnings and documentation typos. [PR #666](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/666)
-* Fix support for older GoogleTest versions. [d186f11](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/d186f11)
-* getrandom() may require sys/random.h on some systems. [Issue #665](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/issues/665)
-* Fix building tests with symbol hiding enabled. [Issue #664](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/issues/664)
+* `adig`: Differentiate between internal and server errors.
+  [e10b16a](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/commit/e10b16a)
+* Autotools allow make to override CFLAGS/CPPFLAGS/CXXFLAGS.
+  [PR #695](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/695)
+* Autotools: fix building for 32bit windows due to stdcall symbol mangling.
+  [PR #689](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/689)
+* RR Name should not be sanity checked against the Question.
+  [PR #685](https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares/pull/685)
 
 Thanks go to these friendly people for their efforts and contributions for this release:
 
 * Brad House (@bradh352)
 * Daniel Stenberg (@bagder)
-* Gregor Jasny (@gjasny)
-* Martin Chang (@marty1885)
+* Erik Lax (@eriklax)
+* Gisle Vanem (@gvanem)
+
+
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4ffc3b16..f820d37d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ dnl Copyright (C) The c-ares project and its contributors
 dnl SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 AC_PREREQ([2.69])
 
-AC_INIT([c-ares], [1.25.0],
+AC_INIT([c-ares], [1.26.0],
   [c-ares mailing list: http://lists.haxx.se/listinfo/c-ares])
 
-CARES_VERSION_INFO="12:1:10"
+CARES_VERSION_INFO="13:0:11"
 dnl This flag accepts an argument of the form current[:revision[:age]]. So,
 dnl passing -version-info 3:12:1 sets current to 3, revision to 12, and age to
 dnl 1.