diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew.rst
index d9a24a219e..d3015379f2 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew.rst
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew.rst
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ What's New
 
 These are new features and improvements of note in each release.
 
+.. include:: whatsnew/v0.16.1.rst
 .. include:: whatsnew/v0.16.0.rst
 .. include:: whatsnew/v0.15.2.rst
 .. include:: whatsnew/v0.15.1.rst
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.1.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4d81a208cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.16.1.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+.. _whatsnew_0_16_1:
+
+
+v0.16.1 (Anticipated December, 2026)
+------------------------------------
+
+Breaking Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Deprecations
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Bug fixes
+~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Enhancements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Documentation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Testing
+~~~~~~~
+
+
+Benchmarking
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Requirements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Maintenance
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+
+Contributors
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+