diff --git a/changelogs/CHANGELOG-v2.11.rst b/changelogs/CHANGELOG-v2.11.rst
index 806b817d1e0..fc953119c9a 100644
--- a/changelogs/CHANGELOG-v2.11.rst
+++ b/changelogs/CHANGELOG-v2.11.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,36 @@ ansible-core 2.11 "Hey Hey, What Can I Do" Release Notes
 .. contents:: Topics
 
 
+v2.11.3rc1
+==========
+
+Release Summary
+---------------
+
+| Release Date: 2021-07-13
+| `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/porting_guides.html>`__
+
+
+Minor Changes
+-------------
+
+- ansible-test - aws creates and exposes a new tiny_prefix variable to provide a shorter prefix for the AWS tests.
+
+Bugfixes
+--------
+
+- Add unicode support to ``ansible-inventory`` CLI (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/57378)
+- Ensure we get full path for extra vars into cliargs to avoid realpath issues after initial load.
+- ansible-doc - in text output, do not show empty ``version_added_collection`` values (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/74999).
+- ansible-test - restrict ``packaging`` to ``< 21.0`` for Python ``< 3.6`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/75186).
+- command - remove unreachable code path when trying to convert the value for ``chdir`` to bytes (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/75036)
+- module_common - handle exception when multiple workers try to create the cache directory
+- roles - make sure argspec validation task templates suboptions (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75070).
+- slurp - improve the logic in the error handling and remove ``os.stat()`` call (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/75038)
+- ssh_connection - rename ``retries`` to ``reconnection_retries`` to avoid conflicts with task vars (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75142).
+- ssh_connection - set the default for ``reconnection_retries`` back to ``0`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75142).
+- task_executor/ssh_connection - use the ``retries`` value from ``ssh_connection`` settings, not the default from the ``Task`` field attributes (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75142).
+
 v2.11.2
 =======
 
diff --git a/changelogs/changelog.yaml b/changelogs/changelog.yaml
index 810ce8f5dfd..50d895ebd88 100644
--- a/changelogs/changelog.yaml
+++ b/changelogs/changelog.yaml
@@ -1830,3 +1830,47 @@ releases:
     - v2.11.2rc1_summary.yaml
     - version_compare-error-on-empty.yml
     release_date: '2021-06-14'
+  2.11.3rc1:
+    changes:
+      bugfixes:
+      - Add unicode support to ``ansible-inventory`` CLI (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/57378)
+      - Ensure we get full path for extra vars into cliargs to avoid realpath issues
+        after initial load.
+      - ansible-doc - in text output, do not show empty ``version_added_collection``
+        values (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/74999).
+      - ansible-test - restrict ``packaging`` to ``< 21.0`` for Python ``< 3.6`` (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/75186).
+      - command - remove unreachable code path when trying to convert the value for
+        ``chdir`` to bytes (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/75036)
+      - module_common - handle exception when multiple workers try to create the cache
+        directory
+      - roles - make sure argspec validation task templates suboptions (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75070).
+      - slurp - improve the logic in the error handling and remove ``os.stat()`` call
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/75038)
+      - ssh_connection - rename ``retries`` to ``reconnection_retries`` to avoid conflicts
+        with task vars (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75142).
+      - ssh_connection - set the default for ``reconnection_retries`` back to ``0``
+        (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75142).
+      - task_executor/ssh_connection - use the ``retries`` value from ``ssh_connection``
+        settings, not the default from the ``Task`` field attributes (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/75142).
+      minor_changes:
+      - ansible-test - aws creates and exposes a new tiny_prefix variable to provide
+        a shorter prefix for the AWS tests.
+      release_summary: '| Release Date: 2021-07-13
+
+        | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/porting_guides.html>`__
+
+        '
+    codename: Hey Hey, What Can I Do
+    fragments:
+    - 57378-inventory-cli-unicode.yml
+    - 74999-ansible-doc-version_added_collection.yml
+    - 75073-role-argspec-suboption-variables.yaml
+    - 75142-ssh-retries-collision.yml
+    - 75186-ansible-test-packaging-constraint.yml
+    - aws_tiny_prefix.yaml
+    - command-remove-unreachable-code.yml
+    - concurrency-cache-dir-collision.yml
+    - extra_vars_unfrack.yml
+    - slurp-improve-error-handling-readability.yml
+    - v2.11.3rc1_summary.yaml
+    release_date: '2021-07-13'
diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/v2.11.3rc1_summary.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/v2.11.3rc1_summary.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a7a2634e8dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/v2.11.3rc1_summary.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+release_summary: |
+   | Release Date: 2021-07-13
+   | `Porting Guide <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/porting_guides.html>`__
diff --git a/lib/ansible/release.py b/lib/ansible/release.py
index 3f708d2d14a..861cb8b97f2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/release.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/release.py
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
-__version__ = '2.11.2.post0'
+__version__ = '2.11.3rc1'
 __author__ = 'Ansible, Inc.'
 __codename__ = 'Hey Hey, What Can I Do'