diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 483d065..fb9ca21 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 # Squib CHANGELOG
 Squib follows [semantic versioning](http://semver.org).
 
+## v0.17.1 / 2021-09-07
+
+Bugs:
+* Fix frozen string error on `Squib.xlsx` import when stripping newlines is enabled
+
 ## v0.17.1 / 2021-08-11
 
 Bugs:
diff --git a/lib/squib/import/xlsx_importer.rb b/lib/squib/import/xlsx_importer.rb
index 99c1213..a6709bf 100644
--- a/lib/squib/import/xlsx_importer.rb
+++ b/lib/squib/import/xlsx_importer.rb
@@ -10,13 +10,13 @@ module Squib::Import
       data = Squib::DataFrame.new
       s.first_column.upto(s.last_column) do |col|
         header = s.cell(s.first_row, col).to_s
-        header.strip! if import.strip?
+        header = header.strip if import.strip?
         data[header] = []
         (s.first_row + 1).upto(s.last_row) do |row|
           cell = s.cell(row, col)
           # Roo hack for avoiding unnecessary .0's on whole integers (https://github.com/roo-rb/roo/issues/139)
           cell = s.excelx_value(row, col) if s.excelx_type(row, col) == [:numeric_or_formula, 'General']
-          cell.strip! if cell.respond_to?(:strip) && import.strip?
+          cell = cell.strip if cell.respond_to?(:strip) && import.strip?
           cell = block.yield(header, cell) unless block.nil?
           data[header] << cell
         end# row
diff --git a/lib/squib/version.rb b/lib/squib/version.rb
index 2d9eaba..4307b0e 100644
--- a/lib/squib/version.rb
+++ b/lib/squib/version.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ module Squib
   # Most of the time this is in the alpha of the next release.
   # e.g. v0.0.5a is on its way to becoming v0.0.5
   #
-  VERSION = '0.18.0a'
+  VERSION = '0.17.2'
 end