diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86343c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+name: Publish Python Package
+
+on:
+  release:
+    types: [created]
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python-version: [3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+      - uses: actions/cache@v2
+        name: Configure pip caching
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/pip
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/setup.py') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-pip-
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install -e '.[test]'
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: python test.py
+  deploy:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [test]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.8"
+      - uses: actions/cache@v2
+        name: Configure pip caching
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/pip
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-publish-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/setup.py') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-publish-pip-
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install setuptools wheel twine
+      - name: Publish
+        env:
+          TWINE_USERNAME: __token__
+          TWINE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.PYPI_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          python setup.py sdist bdist_wheel
+          twine upload --verbose dist/*
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e439c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+name: Test
+
+on: [push]
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        python-version: [3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+      - uses: actions/cache@v2
+        name: Configure pip caching
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/pip
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/setup.py') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-pip-
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install -e '.[test]'
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: |
+          python test.py
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f380c2d..3a71124 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -55,3 +55,4 @@ docs/_build/
 target/
 
 .DS_Store
+.vscode/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.pipignore b/.pipignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 7e6ec6b..0000000
--- a/.pipignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-gnureadline
-ipython
-pip-tools
-readline
-python-frontmatter
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 79c9eed..bcaec6c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 language: python
 dist: xenial
 python:
-  - "2.7"
-  - "3.4"
   - "3.5"
   - "3.6"
   - "3.7"
+  - "3.8"
+  - "3.9"
 # command to install dependencies
 install:
   # use pyaml for tests above py26
   - pip install -r requirements.txt
   - "python setup.py install"
 # command to run tests
-script: python setup.py test
+script: python test.py
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
deleted file mode 100644
index de288e1..0000000
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "python.formatting.provider": "black"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cce1709..6dd0dd2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-Python Frontmatter
-==================
+# Python Frontmatter
 
 [Jekyll](http://jekyllrb.com/)-style YAML front matter offers a useful way to add arbitrary, structured metadata to text documents, regardless of type.
 
@@ -7,14 +6,11 @@ This is a small package to load and parse files (or just text) with YAML front m
 
 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/eyeseast/python-frontmatter.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/eyeseast/python-frontmatter)
 
-Install:
---------
+## Install:
 
     pip install python-frontmatter
 
-
-Usage:
-------
+## Usage:
 
 ```python
 import frontmatter
@@ -31,6 +27,7 @@ Or a file (or file-like object):
 ```python
 >>> with open('tests/hello-world.markdown') as f:
 ...     post = frontmatter.load(f)
+
 ```
 
 Or load from text:
@@ -38,6 +35,7 @@ Or load from text:
 ```python
 >>> with open('tests/hello-world.markdown') as f:
 ...     post = frontmatter.loads(f.read())
+
 ```
 
 Access content:
@@ -49,6 +47,7 @@ Well, hello there, world.
 # this works, too
 >>> print(post)
 Well, hello there, world.
+
 ```
 
 Use metadata (metadata gets proxied as post keys):
@@ -56,6 +55,7 @@ Use metadata (metadata gets proxied as post keys):
 ```python
 >>> print(post['title'])
 Hello, world!
+
 ```
 
 Metadata is a dictionary, with some handy proxies:
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ Metadata is a dictionary, with some handy proxies:
 >>> post['excerpt'] = 'tl;dr'
 >>> pprint(post.metadata)
 {'excerpt': 'tl;dr', 'layout': 'post', 'title': 'Hello, world!'}
+
 ```
 
 If you don't need the whole post object, just parse:
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ If you don't need the whole post object, just parse:
 ...     metadata, content = frontmatter.parse(f.read())
 >>> print(metadata['title'])
 Hello, world!
+
 ```
 
 Write back to plain text, too:
@@ -90,6 +92,8 @@ title: Hello, world!
 ---
 Well, hello there, world.
 
+```
+
 Or write to a file (or file-like object):
 
 ```python
@@ -103,5 +107,5 @@ layout: post
 title: Hello, world!
 ---
 Well, hello there, world.
-```
 
+```
diff --git a/frontmatter/__init__.py b/frontmatter/__init__.py
index 9108fdb..032ac76 100644
--- a/frontmatter/__init__.py
+++ b/frontmatter/__init__.py
@@ -2,12 +2,10 @@
 """
 Python Frontmatter: Parse and manage posts with YAML frontmatter
 """
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import codecs
 import re
 
-import six
 
 from .util import u
 from .default_handlers import YAMLHandler, JSONHandler, TOMLHandler
@@ -38,7 +36,7 @@ def detect_format(text, handlers):
 
     ``text`` should be unicode text about to be parsed.
 
-    ``handlers`` is a dictionary where keys are opening delimiters 
+    ``handlers`` is a dictionary where keys are opening delimiters
     and values are handler instances.
     """
     for pattern, handler in handlers.items():
@@ -93,9 +91,9 @@ def parse(text, encoding="utf-8", handler=None, **defaults):
 
 def check(fd, encoding="utf-8"):
     """
-    Check if a file-like object or filename has a frontmatter, 
+    Check if a file-like object or filename has a frontmatter,
     return True if exists, False otherwise.
-    
+
     If it contains a frontmatter but it is empty, return True as well.
 
     ::
@@ -118,7 +116,7 @@ def checks(text, encoding="utf-8"):
     """
     Check if a text (binary or unicode) has a frontmatter,
     return True if exists, False otherwise.
-    
+
     If it contains a frontmatter but it is empty, return True as well.
 
     ::
@@ -134,7 +132,7 @@ def checks(text, encoding="utf-8"):
 
 def load(fd, encoding="utf-8", handler=None, **defaults):
     """
-    Load and parse a file-like object or filename, 
+    Load and parse a file-like object or filename,
     return a :py:class:`post <frontmatter.Post>`.
 
     ::
@@ -202,12 +200,12 @@ def dump(post, fd, encoding="utf-8", handler=None, **kwargs):
 
 def dumps(post, handler=None, **kwargs):
     """
-    Serialize a :py:class:`post <frontmatter.Post>` to a string and return text. 
+    Serialize a :py:class:`post <frontmatter.Post>` to a string and return text.
     This always returns unicode text, which can then be encoded.
 
     Passing ``handler`` will change how metadata is turned into text. A handler
-    passed as an argument will override ``post.handler``, with 
-    :py:class:`YAMLHandler <frontmatter.default_handlers.YAMLHandler>` used as 
+    passed as an argument will override ``post.handler``, with
+    :py:class:`YAMLHandler <frontmatter.default_handlers.YAMLHandler>` used as
     a default.
     ::
 
@@ -239,15 +237,15 @@ def dumps(post, handler=None, **kwargs):
 class Post(object):
     """
     A post contains content and metadata from Front Matter. This is what gets
-    returned by :py:func:`load <frontmatter.load>` and :py:func:`loads <frontmatter.loads>`. 
-    Passing this to :py:func:`dump <frontmatter.dump>` or :py:func:`dumps <frontmatter.dumps>` 
+    returned by :py:func:`load <frontmatter.load>` and :py:func:`loads <frontmatter.loads>`.
+    Passing this to :py:func:`dump <frontmatter.dump>` or :py:func:`dumps <frontmatter.dumps>`
     will turn it back into text.
 
-    For convenience, metadata values are available as proxied item lookups. 
+    For convenience, metadata values are available as proxied item lookups.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, content, handler=None, **metadata):
-        self.content = u(content)
+        self.content = str(content)
         self.metadata = metadata
         self.handler = handler
 
@@ -271,11 +269,6 @@ def __bytes__(self):
         return self.content.encode("utf-8")
 
     def __str__(self):
-        if six.PY2:
-            return self.__bytes__()
-        return self.content
-
-    def __unicode__(self):
         return self.content
 
     def get(self, key, default=None):
diff --git a/frontmatter/default_handlers.py b/frontmatter/default_handlers.py
index 3b50da8..0fe4773 100644
--- a/frontmatter/default_handlers.py
+++ b/frontmatter/default_handlers.py
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@
 
 
 """
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import json
 import re
@@ -141,7 +140,7 @@
 
 class BaseHandler(object):
     """
-    BaseHandler lays out all the steps to detecting, splitting, parsing and 
+    BaseHandler lays out all the steps to detecting, splitting, parsing and
     exporting front matter metadata.
 
     All default handlers are subclassed from BaseHandler.
@@ -169,7 +168,7 @@ def detect(self, text):
         Decide whether this handler can parse the given ``text``,
         and return True or False.
 
-        Note that this is *not* called when passing a handler instance to 
+        Note that this is *not* called when passing a handler instance to
         :py:func:`frontmatter.load <frontmatter.load>` or :py:func:`loads <frontmatter.loads>`.
         """
         if self.FM_BOUNDARY.match(text):
@@ -207,7 +206,7 @@ class YAMLHandler(BaseHandler):
 
     def load(self, fm, **kwargs):
         """
-        Parse YAML front matter. This uses yaml.SafeLoader by default. 
+        Parse YAML front matter. This uses yaml.SafeLoader by default.
         """
         kwargs.setdefault("Loader", SafeLoader)
         return yaml.load(fm, **kwargs)
diff --git a/frontmatter/util.py b/frontmatter/util.py
index 13e60b6..602f8fd 100644
--- a/frontmatter/util.py
+++ b/frontmatter/util.py
@@ -2,13 +2,12 @@
 """
 Utilities for handling unicode and other repetitive bits
 """
-import six
 
 
 def u(text, encoding="utf-8"):
     "Return unicode text, no matter what"
 
-    if isinstance(text, six.binary_type):
+    if isinstance(text, bytes):
         text = text.decode(encoding)
 
     # it's already unicode
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 3106a37..eb10adb 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 PyYAML
-six
-toml
\ No newline at end of file
+pyaml
+toml
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7de427f..6b14e4b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
     readme = f.read()
 
 
-requirements = ["PyYAML", "six"]
-
 VERSION = "0.5.0"
 
 
@@ -27,7 +25,9 @@
     url="https://github.com/eyeseast/python-frontmatter",
     packages=["frontmatter"],
     include_package_data=True,
-    install_requires=requirements,
+    install_requires=["PyYAML"],
+    extras_require={"test": ["pytest", "toml"]},
+    tests_require=["python-frontmatter[test]"],
     license="MIT",
     zip_safe=False,
     keywords="frontmatter",
@@ -36,13 +36,12 @@
         "Intended Audience :: Developers",
         "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
         "Natural Language :: English",
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 2",
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.5",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
     ],
     test_suite="test",
 )
diff --git a/test.py b/test.py
index 47197bf..77c481a 100644
--- a/test.py
+++ b/test.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
-from __future__ import unicode_literals
-from __future__ import print_function
 
 import codecs
 import doctest
@@ -15,8 +13,6 @@
 import textwrap
 import unittest
 
-import six
-
 import frontmatter
 from frontmatter.default_handlers import YAMLHandler, JSONHandler, TOMLHandler
 
@@ -56,7 +52,7 @@ def test_unicode_post(self):
         output = frontmatter.dumps(chinese)
         zh = "中文"
 
-        self.assertTrue(isinstance(chinese.content, six.text_type))
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(chinese.content, str))
 
         # check that we're dumping out unicode metadata, too
         self.assertTrue(zh in output)
@@ -88,7 +84,7 @@ def test_no_frontmatter(self):
     def test_empty_frontmatter(self):
         "Frontmatter, but no metadata"
         post = frontmatter.load("tests/empty-frontmatter.txt")
-        content = six.text_type("I have frontmatter but no metadata.")
+        content = "I have frontmatter but no metadata."
 
         self.assertEqual(post.metadata, {})
         self.assertEqual(post.content, content)
@@ -96,9 +92,7 @@ def test_empty_frontmatter(self):
     def test_extra_space(self):
         "Extra space in frontmatter delimiter"
         post = frontmatter.load("tests/extra-space.txt")
-        content = six.text_type(
-            "This file has an extra space on the opening line of the frontmatter."
-        )
+        content = "This file has an extra space on the opening line of the frontmatter."
 
         self.assertEqual(post.content, content)
         metadata = {"something": "else", "test": "tester"}
@@ -121,13 +115,13 @@ def test_to_string(self):
 
         # test unicode and bytes
         text = "Well, hello there, world."
-        self.assertEqual(six.text_type(post), text)
-        self.assertEqual(six.binary_type(post), text.encode("utf-8"))
+        self.assertEqual(str(post), text)
+        self.assertEqual(bytes(post), text.encode("utf-8"))
 
     def test_pretty_dumping(self):
         "Use pyaml to dump nicer"
         # pyaml only runs on 2.7 and above
-        if sys.version_info > (2, 6) and pyaml is not None:
+        if pyaml is not None:
 
             with codecs.open("tests/unpretty.md", "r", "utf-8") as f:
                 data = f.read()
@@ -142,8 +136,6 @@ def test_pretty_dumping(self):
             self.assertTrue(yaml in dump)
 
     def test_with_crlf_string(self):
-        import codecs
-
         markdown_bytes = b'---\r\ntitle: "my title"\r\ncontent_type: "post"\r\npublished: no\r\n---\r\n\r\nwrite your content in markdown here'
         loaded = frontmatter.loads(markdown_bytes, "utf-8")
         self.assertEqual(loaded["title"], "my title")
@@ -281,18 +273,17 @@ def setUp(self):
         }
 
     def read_from_tests(self):
-        with open(self.data["filename"]) as fil:
-            return fil.read()
+        with open(self.data["filename"]) as f:
+            return f.read()
 
     def test_external(self):
         filename = self.data["filename"]
         content = self.data["content"]
         metadata = self.data["metadata"]
-        content_stripped = content.strip()
 
         post = frontmatter.load(filename)
 
-        self.assertEqual(post.content, content_stripped)
+        self.assertEqual(post.content, content.strip())
         for k, v in metadata.items():
             self.assertEqual(post[k], v)
 
@@ -420,7 +411,7 @@ def setUp(self):
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    doctest.testfile("README.md")
+    doctest.testfile("README.md", extraglobs={"frontmatter": frontmatter})
     doctest.testmod(
         frontmatter.default_handlers, extraglobs={"frontmatter": frontmatter}
     )