diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d1089cf46..9a1cd94fb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -513,11 +513,12 @@ write_basic_package_version_file(
 if(${BUILD_PYTHON})
   find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Development Interpreter REQUIRED)
   file(GLOB PYSRC CONFIGURE_DEPENDS python/src/notcurses/*.py)
-  file(COPY python/src/ DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/)
-  set(SETUP_PY_IN "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/python/setup.py.in")
+  file(COPY python/src/ DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/src)
+  file(COPY python/README.md DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python)
+  set(SETUP_PY_IN "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tools/setup.py.in")
   set(SETUP_PY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/setup.py")
-  set(SETUP_CFG_IN "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/python/setup.cfg.in")
-  set(SETUP_CFG "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/setup.cfg")
+  set(SETUP_CFG_IN "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tools/setup.cfg.in")
+  set(SETUP_CFG "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/setup.cfg")
   configure_file(${SETUP_PY_IN} ${SETUP_PY})
   configure_file(${SETUP_CFG_IN} ${SETUP_CFG})
   add_custom_command(
@@ -526,7 +527,6 @@ if(${BUILD_PYTHON})
     COMMAND
       "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" ${SETUP_PY} build_ext -L ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR} -b ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python -t${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python &&
       "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" ${SETUP_PY} build_py &&
-      "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" ${SETUP_PY} egg_info -b ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python &&
       "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" ${SETUP_PY} sdist
     DEPENDS
       ${PYSRC} ${SETUP_PY} ${SETUP_CFG} notcurses
diff --git a/python/setup.py.in b/python/setup.py.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 7482e295a..000000000
--- a/python/setup.py.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-from setuptools import setup, find_packages
-import os
-
-def read(fname):
-    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-  setup(name='notcurses',
-    version='${PROJECT_VERSION}',
-    package_dir={ '': '${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/notcurses' },
-    packages=find_packages('${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/notcurses'),
-    cffi_modules=['${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/notcurses/build_notcurses.py:ffibuild'],
-    py_modules=["notcurses"],
-    include_dirs=['${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include']
-)
diff --git a/python/setup.cfg.in b/tools/setup.cfg.in
similarity index 100%
rename from python/setup.cfg.in
rename to tools/setup.cfg.in
diff --git a/tools/setup.py.in b/tools/setup.py.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3a2d52092
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/setup.py.in
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+import os
+
+def read(fname):
+    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+  setup(name='notcurses',
+    version='${PROJECT_VERSION}',
+    package_dir={ '': '${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/src/notcurses' },
+    packages=find_packages('${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/src/notcurses'),
+    cffi_modules=['${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/src/notcurses/build_notcurses.py:ffibuild'],
+    py_modules=["notcurses"],
+    include_dirs=['${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include'],
+    long_description=read('${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/README.md'),
+    zip_safe=True,
+    platforms=["any"],
+    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
+    install_requires=["cffi>=1.0.0"],
+    setup_requires=["cffi>=1.0.0"],
+    # see https://pypi.org/pypi?%3Aaction=list_classifiers
+    classifiers=[
+        'Development Status :: 4 - Beta',
+        'Environment :: Console',
+        'License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License',
+        'Natural Language :: English',
+        'Programming Language :: Python',
+    ],
+    author="Nick Black",
+    author_email="nickblack@linux.com",
+    description="Blingful TUI construction library (python bindings)",
+    keywords="ncurses curses tui console graphics",
+    license='Apache License, Version 2.0',
+    url='https://github.com/dankamongmen/notcurses'
+)