diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0b12521..f59d22e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,6 @@ mrclient.h
 *.pyc
 build
 dist
+
+# Cython autogenerated
+*.egg-info
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README b/README
index 5fde85a..a01f4a9 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -2,18 +2,23 @@
 Installing PyMoira
 ==================
 
-To install PyMoira, you will first need to install Pyrex_. It's always
+To install PyMoira, you will first need to install Cython. It's always
 a good idea to install Pyrex through your package manager, if
-possible. Your system's Pyrex package may be named ``python-pyrex`` or
-``pyrex-py25``. If your package manager doesn't have a package for
+possible. Your system's Pyrex package may be named ``python3-Cython`` or
+``cython3``. If your package manager doesn't have a package for
 Pyrex, or if you wish to install Pyrex by hand anyway, you can do so
 by running::
 
-  $ easy_install Pyrex
+  $ pip install Cython
+
+Other dependencies you need is wheel and setuptools, which seem to
+not be installed by default anymore.
+
+  $ pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel
 
 Once you've done that, to install PyMoira globally, run::
 
-  $ python setup.py install
+  $ pip install .
 
 If you want to build PyMoira without installing it globally, you may
 want to run::
@@ -27,6 +32,8 @@ working directory is the root of the PyMoira source tree.
 Alternatively, PyMoira has been packaged for Debian and Ubuntu. To
 build the Debian package of the latest release, run::
 
+_(NOTE: deb generation is untested)_
+
   $ git checkout debian
   $ git buildpackage
   $ sudo debi
diff --git a/_moira.pyx b/_moira.pyx
index 80af823..18a8eae 100644
--- a/_moira.pyx
+++ b/_moira.pyx
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class MoiraException(Exception):
 __connected = False
 
 def _error(code):
-    raise MoiraException, (code, error_message(code))
+    raise MoiraException(code, error_message(code))
 
 def connect(server=''):
     """
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@ def auth(program, krb4=False):
     discouraged
     """
     if krb4:
-        status = mr_auth(program)
+        status = mr_auth(program.encode())
     else:
-        status = mr_krb5_auth(program)
+        status = mr_krb5_auth(program.encode())
     if status != MR_SUCCESS:
         _error(status)
 
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ def version(ver):
     else:
         _error(status)
 
-cdef int _call_python_callback(int argc, char ** argv, void * hint):
+cdef int _call_python_callback(int argc, char ** argv, void * hint) noexcept:
     cdef object callback
     callback = <object>hint
     result = []
diff --git a/moira.py b/moira.py
index 7090a2d..c229dd0 100644
--- a/moira.py
+++ b/moira.py
@@ -23,6 +23,15 @@
 _et_cache = {}
 
 
+def _to_bytes(s):
+    """
+    If given a string, converts it to bytes, otherwise returns it as is
+    """
+    if isinstance(s, str):
+        return s.encode()
+    return s
+
+
 def _clear_caches():
     """Clear query caches.
 
@@ -34,7 +43,7 @@ def _clear_caches():
 
 
 def connect(server=''):
-    _moira.connect(server)
+    _moira.connect(_to_bytes(server))
     version(-1)
 connect.__doc__ = _moira.connect.__doc__
 
@@ -74,8 +83,18 @@ def _list_query(handle, *args):
     This bypasses the tuple -> dict conversion done in moira.query()
     """
     results = []
-    _moira._query(handle, results.append, *args)
-    return results
+
+    # Python 3 wants bytes
+    args_converted = (_to_bytes(arg) for arg in args)
+
+    # Perform the query
+    _moira._query(_to_bytes(handle), results.append, *args_converted)
+
+    # We get bytes back, convert back to string
+    return [
+        tuple(val.decode() for val in result)
+        for result in results
+    ]
 
 
 def _parse_args(handle, args, kwargs):
@@ -99,7 +118,7 @@ def _parse_args(handle, args, kwargs):
         return tuple(kwargs.get(i, '*')
                      for i in _arg_cache[handle])
     else:
-        return args
+        return tuple(_to_bytes(arg) for arg in args)
 
 
 def query(handle, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -126,7 +145,7 @@ def query(handle, *args, **kwargs):
         results = []
 
         for r in plain_results:
-            results.append(fmt(zip(_return_cache[handle], r)))
+            results.append(fmt(list(zip(_return_cache[handle], r))))
 
         return results
 
@@ -147,9 +166,9 @@ def access(handle, *args, **kwargs):
     args = _parse_args(handle, args, kwargs)
 
     try:
-        _moira._access(handle, *args)
+        _moira._access(_to_bytes(handle), *args)
         return True
-    except MoiraException, e:
+    except MoiraException as e:
         if e.code != errors()['MR_PERM']:
             raise
         return False
diff --git a/qy b/qy
index baeccbb..63a7087 100755
--- a/qy
+++ b/qy
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ def main():
         moira.auth(options.program)
 
     if args[0].startswith('_'):
-        print '\n'.join(', '.join(x) for x in
-                        moira._list_query(*args))
+        print('\n'.join(', '.join(x) for x in
+                        moira._list_query(*args)))
     else:
         results = moira.query(fmt=tuple, *args)
 
@@ -63,11 +63,11 @@ def main():
             r = filter_fields(r, options.fields)
 
             if options.single:
-                print ', '.join(v for (k, v) in r)
+                print(', '.join(v for (k, v) in r))
             else:
                 for k, v in r:
-                    print '%-*s: %s' % (keylen, k, v)
-                print
+                    print('%-*s: %s' % (keylen, k, v))
+                print()
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4ee2946..d468e63 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 from setuptools import setup
 from distutils.extension import Extension
-from Pyrex.Distutils import build_ext
+from Cython.Distutils import build_ext
 
 setup(
     name="PyMoira",