diff --git a/hooks/pre_gen_project.py b/hooks/pre_gen_project.py
index 19b3457..e5f1ded 100644
--- a/hooks/pre_gen_project.py
+++ b/hooks/pre_gen_project.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 import platform
 import re
 import sys
-from distutils.version import StrictVersion
+from packaging.version import Version
 import warnings
 
 import cookiecutter
@@ -19,14 +19,14 @@
 
 with warnings.catch_warnings():
     warnings.simplefilter("ignore", category=DeprecationWarning)
-    # check Python version (3.8 or higher)
-    if StrictVersion(platform.python_version()) < StrictVersion("3.8.0"):
+    # check Python version (3.9 or higher)
+    if Version(platform.python_version()) < Version("3.9.0"):
         print(f"ERROR: You are using Python {platform.python_version()},",
-              "but Python 3.8 or higher is required to use this template")
+              "but Python 3.9 or higher is required to use this template")
         sys.exit(1)
     # check cookiecutter version (1.7.2 or higher)
-    if StrictVersion(cookiecutter.__version__) < StrictVersion('1.7.2'):
-        print(f"ERROR: You are using cookiecutter {cookiecutter.__version__}" 
+    if Version(cookiecutter.__version__) < Version('1.7.2'):
+        print(f"ERROR: You are using cookiecutter {cookiecutter.__version__}"
               "but cookiecutter 1.7.2 or higher is required to use this template")
         sys.exit(1)