diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index 1590df4d1d6..8e119361ba1 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -14,10 +14,24 @@ What's New
 
     np.random.seed(123456)
 
-.. _whats-new.2023.07.1:
+.. _whats-new.2023.08.0:
 
-v2023.07.1 (unreleased)
------------------------
+v2023.08.0 (Aug 18, 2023)
+-------------------------
+
+This release brings changes to minimum dependencies, allows reading of datasets where a dimension name is
+associated with a multidimensional variable (e.g. finite volume ocean model output), and introduces
+a new :py:class:`xarray.Coordinates` object.
+
+Thanks to the 16 contributors to this release: Anderson Banihirwe, Articoking, Benoit Bovy, Deepak Cherian, Harshitha, Ian Carroll,
+Joe Hamman, Justus Magin, Peter Hill, Rachel Wegener, Riley Kuttruff, Thomas Nicholas, Tom Nicholas, ilgast, quantsnus, vallirep
+
+Announcements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The :py:class:`xarray.Variable` class is being refactored out to a new project title 'namedarray'.
+See the `design doc <https://github.com/pydata/xarray/blob/main/design_notes/named_array_design_doc.md>`_ for more
+details. Reach out to us on this [discussion topic](https://github.com/pydata/xarray/discussions/8080) if you have any thoughts.
 
 New Features
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -76,13 +90,6 @@ Breaking changes
    numbagg                    0.1    0.2.1
   ===================== =========  ========
 
-Deprecations
-~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-
-Bug fixes
-~~~~~~~~~
-
 
 Documentation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~