diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 62f0fa9..ee0eba3 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import sys
 import os
 # this needs sphinx-better-theme
 from better import better_theme_path
+from setuptools.config import read_configuration
 
 # If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
 # add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ _docsrcdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 sys.path.insert(0, _docsrcdir)
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(_docsrcdir)))
 
-from pgpy._author import __version__
+__version__ = read_configuration(os.path.join('..', '..', 'setup.cfg'))['metadata']['version']
 
 # -- General configuration ------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/pgpy/__init__.py b/pgpy/__init__.py
index b80740d..b4c30d1 100644
--- a/pgpy/__init__.py
+++ b/pgpy/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 """ PGPy :: Pretty Good Privacy for Python
 """
-from ._author import *
 
 from .pgp import PGPKey
 from .pgp import PGPKeyring
@@ -8,11 +7,7 @@ from .pgp import PGPMessage
 from .pgp import PGPSignature
 from .pgp import PGPUID
 
-__all__ = ['__author__',
-           '__copyright__',
-           '__license__',
-           '__version__',
-           'constants',
+__all__ = ['constants',
            'errors',
            'PGPKey',
            'PGPKeyring',
diff --git a/pgpy/_author.py b/pgpy/_author.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ec5cf8..0000000
--- a/pgpy/_author.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-"""_author.py
-
-Canonical location for authorship information
-__version__ is a PEP-386 compliant version string,
-making use of distutils.version.LooseVersion
-"""
-
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
-
-__all__ = ['__author__',
-           '__copyright__',
-           '__license__',
-           '__version__']
-
-__author__ = "Michael Greene"
-__copyright__ = "Copyright (c) 2014-2021 Security Innovation, Inc"
-__license__ = "BSD"
-__version__ = str(LooseVersion("0.6.0-dev"))
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index a37b014..fe54ca0 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 [metadata]
 name = PGPy
+version = 0.6.0-dev
+author = Michael Greene
 author_email = mgreene@securityinnovation.com
 maintainer = Security Innovation
 maintainer_email = opensource@securityinnovation.com
+license = BSD
 description = Pretty Good Privacy for Python
 keywords = OpenPGP, PGP, Pretty Good Privacy, GPG, GnuPG, openpgp, pgp, gnupg, gpg, encryption, signature
 url = https://github.com/SecurityInnovation/PGPy
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a7144ee..6068493 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,41 +1,3 @@
-import ast
-import os.path
-
 from setuptools import setup
 
-
-def extract_value(v):
-    if isinstance(v, ast.Str):
-        return v.s
-    elif isinstance(v, ast.Num):
-        return v.n
-    elif isinstance(v, ast.Call):
-        for a in v.args:
-            r = extract_value(a)
-            if r is not None:
-                return r
-
-
-def extract_vars_from_python_ast(a):
-    res = {}
-    for e in a.body:
-        if isinstance(e, ast.Assign) and len(e.targets) == 1:
-            n = e.targets[0]
-            if isinstance(n, ast.Name):
-                res[n.id] = extract_value(e.value)
-    return res
-
-
-def extract_vars_from_python_source(p):
-    with open(p) as f:
-        t = f.read()
-    return extract_vars_from_python_ast(ast.parse(t))
-
-
-this_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
-author_info = extract_vars_from_python_source(os.path.join(this_dir, "pgpy", "_author.py"))
-setup(
-    version=author_info["__version__"],
-    author=author_info["__author__"],
-    license=author_info["__license__"],
-)
+setup()