diff --git a/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index 986ff77d..94781f42 100644
--- a/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ Manifest-Version: 1.0
 Bundle-ManifestVersion: 2
 Bundle-Name: Amazon Kinesis Client Library for Java
 Bundle-SymbolicName: com.amazonaws.kinesisclientlibrary;singleton:=true
-Bundle-Version: 1.7.6
+Bundle-Version: 1.8.0
 Bundle-Vendor: Amazon Technologies, Inc
 Bundle-RequiredExecutionEnvironment: JavaSE-1.7
 Require-Bundle: org.apache.commons.codec;bundle-version="1.6",
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 098adc8e..7d2c8ea9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,6 +29,17 @@ For producer-side developers using the **[Kinesis Producer Library (KPL)][kinesi
 To make it easier for developers to write record processors in other languages, we have implemented a Java based daemon, called MultiLangDaemon that does all the heavy lifting. Our approach has the daemon spawn a sub-process, which in turn runs the record processor, which can be written in any language. The MultiLangDaemon process and the record processor sub-process communicate with each other over [STDIN and STDOUT using a defined protocol][multi-lang-protocol]. There will be a one to one correspondence amongst record processors, child processes, and shards. For Python developers specifically, we have abstracted these implementation details away and [expose an interface][kclpy] that enables you to focus on writing record processing logic in Python. This approach enables KCL to be language agnostic, while providing identical features and similar parallel processing model across all languages.
 
 ## Release Notes
+### Release 1.8.0 (July 25, 2017)
+* Execute graceful shutdown on its own thread
+  * [PR #191](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-kinesis-client/pull/191)
+  * [Issue #167](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-kinesis-client/issues/167)
+* Added support for controlling the size of the lease renewer thread pool
+  * [PR #177](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-kinesis-client/pull/177)
+  * [Issue #171](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-kinesis-client/issues/171)
+* Require Java 8 and later
+  __Java 8 is now required for versions 1.8.0 of the amazon-kinesis-client and later.__
+  * [PR #176](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-kinesis-client/issues/176)
+
 ### Release 1.7.6 (June 21, 2017)
 * Added support for graceful shutdown in MultiLang Clients
   * [PR #174](https://github.com/awslabs/amazon-kinesis-client/pull/174)
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 47069ad7..688b14b2 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   <artifactId>amazon-kinesis-client</artifactId>
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Amazon Kinesis Client Library for Java</name>
-  <version>1.8.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.8.0</version>
   <description>The Amazon Kinesis Client Library for Java enables Java developers to easily consume and process data
     from Amazon Kinesis.
   </description>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/kinesis/clientlibrary/lib/worker/KinesisClientLibConfiguration.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/kinesis/clientlibrary/lib/worker/KinesisClientLibConfiguration.java
index 476a9e03..3b10c03e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/kinesis/clientlibrary/lib/worker/KinesisClientLibConfiguration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/kinesis/clientlibrary/lib/worker/KinesisClientLibConfiguration.java
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ public class KinesisClientLibConfiguration {
     /**
      * User agent set when Amazon Kinesis Client Library makes AWS requests.
      */
-    public static final String KINESIS_CLIENT_LIB_USER_AGENT = "amazon-kinesis-client-library-java-1.7.6";
+    public static final String KINESIS_CLIENT_LIB_USER_AGENT = "amazon-kinesis-client-library-java-1.8.0";
 
     /**
      * KCL will validate client provided sequence numbers with a call to Amazon Kinesis before checkpointing for calls