diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 288f3161..ce61660e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
 
       - name: Install cibuildwheel
-        run: python -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+        run: python -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 
       - name: Build wheels
         run: python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
@@ -346,6 +346,19 @@ Changelog
 
 <!--changelog-start-->
 
+### v2.0.0 (prerelease)
+
+_This release is currently in prerelease. The below release notes will be condensed into a single entry when we do a final release._
+
+_v2.0.0a1 (1 Jun 2021)_
+
+- 🌟 Added the ability to test building wheels on CPython 3.10! Because CPython 3.10 is in beta, these wheels should not be distributed, because they might not be compatible with the final release, but it's available to build for testing purposes. Use the flag [`--prerelease-pythons` or `CIBW_PRERELEASE_PYTHONS`](https://cibuildwheel.readthedocs.io/en/latest/options/#prerelease-pythons) to test. (#675)
+- ✨ Added the ability to build CPython 3.8 wheels on Apple Silicon. (#704)
+- 🛠 Update to the latest build dependencies, including auditwheel 4. (#633)
+- 🛠 Use the unified pypa/manylinux images to build PyPy (#671)
+- ⚠️ Removed support for building Python 2.7 and Python 3.5 wheels, for both CPython and PyPy. If you still need to build on these versions, please use the latest v1.x version. (#596)
+
+
 ### v1.11.1
 
 _28 May 2021_
diff --git a/cibuildwheel/__init__.py b/cibuildwheel/__init__.py
index 2b6bd8a7..4b3c3ea5 100644
--- a/cibuildwheel/__init__.py
+++ b/cibuildwheel/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "1.11.1.post1"
+__version__ = "2.0.0a1"
diff --git a/docs/faq.md b/docs/faq.md
index fe25db81..03878471 100644
--- a/docs/faq.md
+++ b/docs/faq.md
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ There are two suggested methods for keeping cibuildwheel up to date that instead
 If you use GitHub Actions for builds, you can use cibuildwheel as an action:
 
 ```yaml
-uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v1.11.1.post1
+uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v2.0.0a1
 ```
 
 This is a composite step that just runs cibuildwheel using pipx. You can set command-line options as `with:` parameters, and use `env:` as normal.
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ The second option, and the only one that supports other CI systems, is using a `
 
 ```bash
 # requirements-cibw.txt
-cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 ```
 
 Then your install step would have `python -m pip install -r requirements-cibw.txt` in it. Your `dependabot.yml` file could look like this:
diff --git a/docs/setup.md b/docs/setup.md
index bdd2497f..a59b71f5 100644
--- a/docs/setup.md
+++ b/docs/setup.md
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ To build Linux, Mac, and Windows wheels using GitHub Actions, create a `.github/
           - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
           - name: Build wheels
-            run: pipx run cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+            run: pipx run cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 
           - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
             with:
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ To build Linux, Mac, and Windows wheels using GitHub Actions, create a `.github/
           - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
 
           - name: Install cibuildwheel
-            run: python -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+            run: python -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 
           - name: Build wheels
             run: python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
diff --git a/examples/appveyor-minimal.yml b/examples/appveyor-minimal.yml
index 2a88878e..566569d5 100644
--- a/examples/appveyor-minimal.yml
+++ b/examples/appveyor-minimal.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ stack: python 3.7
 init:
 - cmd: set PATH=C:\Python37;C:\Python37\Scripts;%PATH%
 
-install: python -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+install: python -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 
 build_script: python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
 
diff --git a/examples/azure-pipelines-minimal.yml b/examples/azure-pipelines-minimal.yml
index 93f23116..0cc54a53 100644
--- a/examples/azure-pipelines-minimal.yml
+++ b/examples/azure-pipelines-minimal.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ jobs:
     - bash: |
         set -o errexit
         python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
-        pip3 install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+        pip3 install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
       displayName: Install dependencies
     - bash: cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse .
       displayName: Build wheels
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
     - bash: |
         set -o errexit
         python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
-        python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+        python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
       displayName: Install dependencies
     - bash: cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse .
       displayName: Build wheels
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ jobs:
     - bash: |
         set -o errexit
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-        pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+        pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
       displayName: Install dependencies
     - bash: cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse .
       displayName: Build wheels
diff --git a/examples/circleci-minimal.yml b/examples/circleci-minimal.yml
index 984546c8..cec01cf4 100644
--- a/examples/circleci-minimal.yml
+++ b/examples/circleci-minimal.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: Build the Linux wheels.
           command: |
-            pip3 install --user cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+            pip3 install --user cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
             cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
       - store_artifacts:
           path: wheelhouse/
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: Build the OS X wheels.
           command: |
-            pip3 install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+            pip3 install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
             cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
       - store_artifacts:
           path: wheelhouse/
diff --git a/examples/github-apple-silicon.yml b/examples/github-apple-silicon.yml
index c3def233..6c9a9e97 100644
--- a/examples/github-apple-silicon.yml
+++ b/examples/github-apple-silicon.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
       - name: Build wheels
-        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v1.11.1.post1
+        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v2.0.0a1
         env:
           CIBW_ARCHS_MACOS: x86_64 universal2
 
diff --git a/examples/github-deploy.yml b/examples/github-deploy.yml
index 678476da..6e66904b 100644
--- a/examples/github-deploy.yml
+++ b/examples/github-deploy.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ jobs:
           python-version: '3.8'
 
       - name: Build wheels
-        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v1.11.1.post1
+        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v2.0.0a1
 
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
         with:
diff --git a/examples/github-minimal.yml b/examples/github-minimal.yml
index dc1da299..f98b9e32 100644
--- a/examples/github-minimal.yml
+++ b/examples/github-minimal.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
       - name: Build wheels
-        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v1.11.1.post1
+        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v2.0.0a1
         # to supply options, put them in 'env', like:
         # env:
         #   CIBW_SOME_OPTION: value
diff --git a/examples/github-with-qemu.yml b/examples/github-with-qemu.yml
index 29c3acc5..8f96a1ab 100644
--- a/examples/github-with-qemu.yml
+++ b/examples/github-with-qemu.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
           platforms: all
 
       - name: Build wheels
-        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v1.11.1.post1
+        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@v2.0.0a1
         env:
           # configure cibuildwheel to build native archs ('auto'), and some
           # emulated ones
diff --git a/examples/gitlab-minimal.yml b/examples/gitlab-minimal.yml
index 5af929d5..41ecce01 100644
--- a/examples/gitlab-minimal.yml
+++ b/examples/gitlab-minimal.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ linux:
     DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: ""
   script:
     - curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | sh
-    - python -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+    - python -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
     - cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
   artifacts:
     paths:
diff --git a/examples/travis-ci-deploy.yml b/examples/travis-ci-deploy.yml
index 60908195..9c61be49 100644
--- a/examples/travis-ci-deploy.yml
+++ b/examples/travis-ci-deploy.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
         - ln -s /c/Python38/python.exe /c/Python38/python3.exe
 
 install:
-  - python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+  - python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 
 script:
   # build the wheels, put them into './wheelhouse'
diff --git a/examples/travis-ci-minimal.yml b/examples/travis-ci-minimal.yml
index 0db4471a..e904a062 100644
--- a/examples/travis-ci-minimal.yml
+++ b/examples/travis-ci-minimal.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
         - ln -s /c/Python38/python.exe /c/Python38/python3.exe
 
 install:
-  - python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+  - python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
 
 script:
   # build the wheels, put them into './wheelhouse'
diff --git a/examples/travis-ci-test-and-deploy.yml b/examples/travis-ci-test-and-deploy.yml
index 974d0bed..f2835adc 100644
--- a/examples/travis-ci-test-and-deploy.yml
+++ b/examples/travis-ci-test-and-deploy.yml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ jobs:
     - stage: deploy
       name: Build and deploy Linux wheels
       services: docker
-      install: python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+      install: python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
       script: python3 -m cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
       after_success: |
         python3 -m pip install twine
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ jobs:
       name: Build and deploy Windows wheels
       os: windows
       language: shell
-      install: python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==1.11.1.post1
+      install: python3 -m pip install cibuildwheel==2.0.0a1
       script: python3 -m cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
       after_success: |
         python3 -m pip install twine
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 0835399a..8b38fe54 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [metadata]
 name = cibuildwheel
-version = 1.11.1.post1
+version = 2.0.0a1
 description = Build Python wheels on CI with minimal configuration.
 long_description = file: README.md
 long_description_content_type = text/markdown