diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 038327f..7bbb05d 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "9.15.1"
+  ".": "9.16.0"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index acd656e..f57ffe4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,19 @@
 
 All notable changes to the LaunchDarkly Python SDK will be documented in this file. This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org).
 
+## [9.16.0](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/compare/9.15.1...9.16.0) (2026-05-07)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* Drop persistent-store cache after FDv2 in-memory store init ([#426](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/426)) ([563b87a](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/563b87acc024e5196fba24064b0df802facda407))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* align FDv2 goodbye event with spec (reason-only) ([#422](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/422)) ([84b442d](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/84b442da7e773f58e5ff43d7a84c67ef0439816a))
+* honor server-directed FDv1 Fallback Directive in initializer phase ([#423](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/423)) ([7c49bc0](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/7c49bc04c22089109da6c5efe143e5bfcfd780b8))
+
 ## [9.15.1](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/compare/9.15.0...9.15.1) (2026-04-10)
 
 
diff --git a/PROVENANCE.md b/PROVENANCE.md
index eced9bc..d38e2cb 100644
--- a/PROVENANCE.md
+++ b/PROVENANCE.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ To verify build provenance attestations, we recommend using the [GitHub CLI `att
 <!-- x-release-please-start-version -->
 ```
 # Set the version of the SDK to verify
-SDK_VERSION=9.15.1
+SDK_VERSION=9.16.0
 ```
 <!-- x-release-please-end -->
 
diff --git a/ldclient/version.py b/ldclient/version.py
index 559d3d4..1d98ff4 100644
--- a/ldclient/version.py
+++ b/ldclient/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = "9.15.1"  # x-release-please-version
+VERSION = "9.16.0"  # x-release-please-version
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e382f89..0a6ff5a 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "launchdarkly-server-sdk"
-version = "9.15.1"
+version = "9.16.0"
 description = "LaunchDarkly SDK for Python"
 authors = ["LaunchDarkly <dev@launchdarkly.com>"]
 license = "Apache-2.0"