diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 428255c09e..0a01c6c253 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Keyman Version History
 
+## 19.0.53 alpha 2025-05-29
+
+* fix(developer): ensure that kmc doesn't skip validate phase of kmc-ldml (#14068)
+
 ## 19.0.52 alpha 2025-05-28
 
 * feat(developer): line numbers for tran compiler (#14037)
diff --git a/VERSION.md b/VERSION.md
index 13de026a3e..c16038ebd9 100644
--- a/VERSION.md
+++ b/VERSION.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-19.0.53
\ No newline at end of file
+19.0.54
\ No newline at end of file