diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c797dc3a..dc3422fb 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
     # but most users really don't require it
     from distutils.core import setup, Command
 import timeit
+import os
 
 import versioneer
 versioneer.versionfile_source = "ecdsa/_version.py"
@@ -74,10 +75,15 @@ def do(setup_statements, statement):
 
 commands["speed"] = Speed
 
+here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+with open(os.path.join(here, "README.md"), encoding='utf-8') as f:
+    long_desc = f.read()
 
 setup(name="ecdsa",
       version=versioneer.get_version(),
       description="ECDSA cryptographic signature library (pure python)",
+      long_description=long_desc,
+      long_description_content_type='text/markdown',
       author="Brian Warner",
       author_email="warner-pyecdsa@lothar.com",
       url="http://github.com/warner/python-ecdsa",