diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 6218e8e..cfe4b9c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         platform: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]  # todo windows-latest]
-        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12']
+        python-version: ['3.9', '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
         # vvv just an example of excluding stuff from matrix
         # exclude: [{platform: macos-latest, python-version: '3.6'}]
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 668c47f..507fcdb 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@ dependencies = [
     "appdirs"        ,  # default cache dir
     "sqlalchemy>=1.0",  # cache DB interaction
     "orjson",           # fast json serialization
-    "pytz",             # used to properly marshall pytz datatimes
 ]
-requires-python = ">=3.8"
+requires-python = ">=3.9"
 
 ## these need to be set if you're planning to upload to pypi
 # description = "TODO"
@@ -32,6 +31,8 @@ Homepage = "https://github.com/karlicoss/cachew"
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 testing = [
+    "pytz", "types-pytz",  # optional runtime only dependency
+
     "pytest",
     "more-itertools",
     "patchy",  # for injecting sleeps and testing concurrent behaviour
diff --git a/src/cachew/legacy.py b/src/cachew/legacy.py
index 96091f5..1bf9b42 100644
--- a/src/cachew/legacy.py
+++ b/src/cachew/legacy.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from datetime import date, datetime
 from itertools import chain, islice
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import (
     Any,
     Generic,
@@ -487,3 +488,20 @@ def test_ntbinder_primitive(tp, val) -> None:
     row = b.to_row(val)
     vv = b.from_row(list(row))
     assert vv == val
+
+
+def test_unique_columns(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    class Job(NamedTuple):
+        company: str
+        title: Optional[str]
+
+    class Breaky(NamedTuple):
+        job_title: int
+        job: Optional[Job]
+
+    assert [c.name for c in NTBinder.make(Breaky).columns] == [
+        'job_title',
+        '_job_is_null',
+        'job_company',
+        '_job_title',
+    ]
diff --git a/src/cachew/marshall/cachew.py b/src/cachew/marshall/cachew.py
index 5ce98ee..da11aaf 100644
--- a/src/cachew/marshall/cachew.py
+++ b/src/cachew/marshall/cachew.py
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
     get_type_hints,
 )
 
+from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
+
 from ..utils import TypeNotSupported, is_namedtuple
 from .common import (
     AbstractMarshall,
@@ -249,20 +251,6 @@ def make_tz_pytz(zone: str):
     make_tz_pytz = pytz.timezone
 
 
-if sys.version_info[:2] >= (3, 9):
-    import zoneinfo
-
-    ZoneInfo = zoneinfo.ZoneInfo
-    make_tz_zoneinfo = ZoneInfo
-else:
-    # dummy, this is only needed for isinstance check below
-    class ZoneInfo:
-        key: str
-
-    def make_tz_zoneinfo(zone: str):
-        raise RuntimeError(f"Need to use python3.9+ to deserialize {zone}")
-
-
 # just ints to avoid inflating db size
 # for now, we try to preserve actual timezone object just in case since they do have somewhat incompatible apis
 _TZTAG_ZONEINFO = 1
@@ -293,7 +281,7 @@ def load(self, dct: tuple):
         if zone is None:
             return dt
 
-        make_tz = make_tz_zoneinfo if zone_tag == _TZTAG_ZONEINFO else make_tz_pytz
+        make_tz = ZoneInfo if zone_tag == _TZTAG_ZONEINFO else make_tz_pytz
         tz = make_tz(zone)
         return dt.astimezone(tz)
 
@@ -488,16 +476,14 @@ def test_serialize_and_deserialize() -> None:
     helper([1, 2, 3], Sequence[int], expected=(1, 2, 3))
     helper((1, 2, 3), Sequence[int])
     helper((1, 2, 3), Tuple[int, int, int])
-    if sys.version_info[:2] >= (3, 9):
-        # TODO test with from __future__ import annotations..
-        helper([1, 2, 3], list[int])
-        helper((1, 2, 3), tuple[int, int, int])
+    # TODO test with from __future__ import annotations..
+    helper([1, 2, 3], list[int])
+    helper((1, 2, 3), tuple[int, int, int])
 
     # dicts
     helper({'a': 'aa', 'b': 'bb'}, Dict[str, str])
     helper({'a': None, 'b': 'bb'}, Dict[str, Optional[str]])
-    if sys.version_info[:2] >= (3, 9):
-        helper({'a': 'aa', 'b': 'bb'}, dict[str, str])
+    helper({'a': 'aa', 'b': 'bb'}, dict[str, str])
 
     # compounds of simple types
     helper(['1', 2, '3'], List[Union[str, int]])
@@ -559,19 +545,16 @@ class WithJson:
         dsummer_tz,
     ]
 
-    if sys.version_info[:2] >= (3, 9):
-        from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
-
-        tz_sydney = ZoneInfo('Australia/Sydney')
-        ## these will have same local time (2025-04-06 02:01:00) in Sydney due to DST shift!
-        ## the second one will have fold=1 set to disambiguate
-        utc_before_shift = datetime.fromisoformat('2025-04-05T15:01:00+00:00')
-        utc_after__shift = datetime.fromisoformat('2025-04-05T16:01:00+00:00')
-        ##
-        sydney_before = utc_before_shift.astimezone(tz_sydney)
-        sydney__after = utc_after__shift.astimezone(tz_sydney)
+    tz_sydney = ZoneInfo('Australia/Sydney')
+    ## these will have same local time (2025-04-06 02:01:00) in Sydney due to DST shift!
+    ## the second one will have fold=1 set to disambiguate
+    utc_before_shift = datetime.fromisoformat('2025-04-05T15:01:00+00:00')
+    utc_after__shift = datetime.fromisoformat('2025-04-05T16:01:00+00:00')
+    ##
+    sydney_before = utc_before_shift.astimezone(tz_sydney)
+    sydney__after = utc_after__shift.astimezone(tz_sydney)
 
-        dates_tz.extend([sydney_before, sydney__after])
+    dates_tz.extend([sydney_before, sydney__after])
 
     dates = [
         *dates_tz,
@@ -591,9 +574,8 @@ class WithJson:
     assert helper(dsummer_tz, datetime)[0] == ('2020-08-03T01:02:03+01:00', 'Europe/London', _TZTAG_PYTZ)
     assert helper(dwinter, datetime)[0] == ('2020-02-03T01:02:03', None, None)
 
-    if sys.version_info[:2] >= (3, 9):
-        assert helper(sydney_before, datetime)[0] == ('2025-04-06T02:01:00+11:00', 'Australia/Sydney', _TZTAG_ZONEINFO)
-        assert helper(sydney__after, datetime)[0] == ('2025-04-06T02:01:00+10:00', 'Australia/Sydney', _TZTAG_ZONEINFO)
+    assert helper(sydney_before, datetime)[0] == ('2025-04-06T02:01:00+11:00', 'Australia/Sydney', _TZTAG_ZONEINFO)
+    assert helper(sydney__after, datetime)[0] == ('2025-04-06T02:01:00+10:00', 'Australia/Sydney', _TZTAG_ZONEINFO)
 
     assert helper(dwinter.date(), date)[0] == '2020-02-03'
 
diff --git a/src/cachew/tests/marshall.py b/src/cachew/tests/marshall.py
index ab6db77..5d8753e 100644
--- a/src/cachew/tests/marshall.py
+++ b/src/cachew/tests/marshall.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 
 import orjson
 import pytest
-import pytz
 
 from ..marshall.cachew import CachewMarshall
 from ..marshall.common import Json
@@ -215,6 +214,8 @@ def test_datetimes(impl: Impl, count: int, gc_control, request) -> None:
     if impl == 'cattrs':
         pytest.skip('TODO support datetime with pytz for cattrs')
 
+    import pytz
+
     def factory(*, count: int):
         tzs = [
             pytz.timezone('Europe/Berlin'),
diff --git a/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py b/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py
index a64ee38..045f8f4 100644
--- a/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py
+++ b/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 
 import patchy
 import pytest
-import pytz
 from more_itertools import ilen, last, one, unique_everseen
 
 from .. import (
@@ -563,35 +562,6 @@ def make_people_data(count: int) -> Iterator[Person]:
         )
 
 
-def test_unique_columns(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
-    # TODO remove this test? it's for legacy stuff..
-    from ..legacy import NTBinder
-
-    class Breaky(NamedTuple):
-        job_title: int
-        job: Optional[Job]
-
-    assert [c.name for c in NTBinder.make(Breaky).columns] == [
-        'job_title',
-        '_job_is_null',
-        'job_company',
-        '_job_title',
-    ]
-
-    b = Breaky(
-        job_title=123,
-        job=Job(company='123', title='whatever'),
-    )
-
-    @cachew(cache_path=tmp_path)
-    def iter_breaky() -> Iterator[Breaky]:
-        yield b
-        yield b
-
-    assert list(iter_breaky()) == [b, b]
-    assert list(iter_breaky()) == [b, b]
-
-
 def test_stats(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     cache_file = tmp_path / 'cache'
 
@@ -648,13 +618,15 @@ class Dates:
 
 
 def test_dates(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
-    tz = pytz.timezone('Europe/London')
+    from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
+
+    tz = ZoneInfo('Europe/London')
     dwinter = datetime.strptime('20200203 01:02:03', '%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S')
     dsummer = datetime.strptime('20200803 01:02:03', '%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S')
 
     x = Dates(
-        d1=tz.localize(dwinter),
-        d2=tz.localize(dsummer),
+        d1=dwinter.replace(tzinfo=tz),
+        d2=dsummer.replace(tzinfo=tz),
         d3=dwinter,
         d4=dsummer,
         d5=dsummer.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc),
@@ -696,6 +668,8 @@ class AllTypes:
 
 
 def test_types(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    import pytz
+
     tz = pytz.timezone('Europe/Berlin')
     # fmt: off
     obj = AllTypes(
diff --git a/src/cachew/tests/test_future_annotations.py b/src/cachew/tests/test_future_annotations.py
index 9d688c7..85dc1fe 100644
--- a/src/cachew/tests/test_future_annotations.py
+++ b/src/cachew/tests/test_future_annotations.py
@@ -25,9 +25,6 @@ class NewStyleTypes1:
 
 
 def test_types1(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
-    if sys.version_info[:2] <= (3, 8):
-        pytest.skip("too annoying to adjust for 3.8 and it's EOL soon anyway")
-
     # fmt: off
     obj = NewStyleTypes1(
         a_str   = 'abac',
@@ -86,9 +83,6 @@ def test_future_annotations(
     Checks handling of postponed evaluation of annotations (from __future__ import annotations)
     """
 
-    if sys.version_info[:2] <= (3, 8):
-        pytest.skip("too annoying to adjust for 3.8 and it's EOL soon anyway")
-
     # NOTE: to avoid weird interactions with existing interpreter in which pytest is running
     #  , we compose a program and running in python directly instead
     #  (also not sure if it's even possible to tweak postponed annotations without doing that)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index bd3444e..ecd9c21 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ commands =
 deps =
     -e .[testing,optional]
 commands =
-    {envpython} -m mypy --install-types --non-interactive \
+    {envpython} -m mypy \
         -p {[testenv]package_name}       \
         # txt report is a bit more convenient to view on CI
         --txt-report  .coverage.mypy     \