diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 42961e60b2..f1dab53f2b 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -1746,6 +1746,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/network-manager-plugin-path.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/network-manager-meson.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/nginx-socket-cloexec.patch		\
+  %D%/packages/patches/nickle-man-release-date.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/nnpack-system-libraries.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/nsis-env-passthru.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/nss-getcwd-nonnull.patch			\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/nickle.scm b/gnu/packages/nickle.scm
index 6b69d7cb92..13eba5a050 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/nickle.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/nickle.scm
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 ;;; GNU Guix --- Functional package management for GNU
 ;;; Copyright © 2016 Nikita <nikita@n0.is>
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me@tobias.gr>
+;;; Copyright © 2024 Eric Bavier <bavier@posteo.net>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -28,17 +29,26 @@
 (define-public nickle
   (package
     (name "nickle")
-    (version "2.90")
+    (version "2.97")
     (source (origin
               (method url-fetch)
               (uri (string-append "https://nickle.org/release/nickle-"
                                   version ".tar.gz"))
               (sha256
                (base32
-                "197532b7ghkfnzx9qvxd2qjpnqba7bfl79iff3hk2jxcl0d83czv"))))
+                "0gqashcs3r0d1yp6rq6q2ayjdwsjxnd8z0ij55ayrbhn296l7mp2"))
+              (patches (search-patches "nickle-man-release-date.patch"))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
-    (native-inputs
-     (list readline))
+    (inputs (list readline))
+    (arguments
+     '(#:phases
+       (modify-phases %standard-phases
+         (add-after 'unpack 'patch-build-date
+           (lambda _
+             ;; Our patch touches Makefile.am, but rather than rebootstrap,
+             ;; make the substitution directly in Makefile.in.
+             (substitute* "Makefile.in"
+               (("BUILD_DATE") "RELEASE_DATE")))))))
     (synopsis "Numeric oriented programming language")
     (description
      "Nickle is a programming language based prototyping environment with
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/nickle-man-release-date.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/nickle-man-release-date.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..29f50f2b85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/nickle-man-release-date.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+Submitted close to upstream at
+https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1070162
+
+From 95ff7e9de4ed815e060b1df59b5b2b105307e0d7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Eric Bavier <bavier@posteo.net>
+Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2024 23:34:15 -0500
+Subject: [PATCH] Fixes substitution of REALEASE_DATE in nickle.1
+
+* Makefile.am (nickle.1): 'BUILD_DATE' -> 'RELEASE_DATE'.
+* nickle.1.in: Include version in footer.
+---
+ Makefile.am | 2 +-
+ nickle.1.in | 2 +-
+ 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
+index ba28ec9..5ed56a3 100644
+--- a/Makefile.am
++++ b/Makefile.am
+@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ RELEASE_FILES = $(TARFILE) $(SIGFILE) $(SRPMFILE) $(RPMFILE)
+ 
+ nickle.1: nickle.1.in nickle-config.h
+ 	sed -e 's,@''VERSION@,$(VERSION),' \
+-	    -e 's,@''BUILD_DATE@,$(BUILD_DATE),' \
++	    -e 's,@''RELEASE_DATE@,$(RELEASE_DATE),' \
+ 	    -e 's,@''pkgdatadir@,$(pkgdatadir),' $(top_srcdir)/nickle.1.in > $@
+ 	    
+ nickle.spec: nickle.spec.in nickle-config.h
+diff --git a/nickle.1.in b/nickle.1.in
+index 4871ac2..1ab9e08 100644
+--- a/nickle.1.in
++++ b/nickle.1.in
+@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
+-.TH NICKLE 1 "@RELEASE_DATE@"
++.TH NICKLE 1 "@RELEASE_DATE@" "nickle @VERSION@"
+ .SH NAME
+ nickle \- a desk calculator language
+ .SH SYNOPSIS
+-- 
+2.41.0
+