diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a7bf93b..6f961ea 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 import os
-from pathlib import Path
 from setuptools import setup
 
 
@@ -10,6 +9,9 @@ def get_version(path):
         version = version.strip().strip('"')
     return version
 
+def read(fname):
+    return open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)).read()
+
 
 setup(name='adjustText',
       version=get_version(os.path.join(
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ def get_version(path):
       packages=['adjustText'],
       install_requires=["numpy", "matplotlib", "bioframe", "scipy"],
       include_package_data=True,
-      long_description=Path("README.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8"),
+      long_description=read("README.md"),
       long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
       license="MIT",
       classifiers=[