diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index e417bcd..198150f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Added
 - Type annotations support for ORC types.
 - Support for `timestamp with local time zone` type.
 - New parameter for Reader and Writer: timezone.
-- The backported zoneinfo module dependency pior to Python 3.9.
+- The backported zoneinfo module dependency prior to Python 3.9.
 - Predicate (SearchArgument) support for filtering row groups during ORC file
   reads. New classes: Predicate and PredicateColumn.
 - New parameter for Reader: predicate.
diff --git a/docs/api.rst b/docs/api.rst
index 6d74205..98b5c34 100644
--- a/docs/api.rst
+++ b/docs/api.rst
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ API documentation
 ===============
 
 .. class:: Reader(fileo, batch_size=1024, column_indices=None, \
-                  column_names=None, timezone=zoneinfo.ZoneInfo("UTC"), \
+                  column_names=None, timezone=datetime.timezone.utc, \
                   struct_repr=StructRepr.TUPLE, converters=None, \
                   predicate=None, null_value=None)
 
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ API documentation
                   compression=CompressionKind.ZLIB, \
                   compression_strategy=CompressionStrategy.SPEED, \
                   compression_block_size=65536, bloom_filter_columns=None, \
-                  bloom_filter_fpp=0.05, timezone=zoneinfo.ZoneInfo("UTC"), \
+                  bloom_filter_fpp=0.05, timezone=datetime.timezone.utc, \
                   struct_repr=StructRepr.TUPLE, converters=None, \
                   padding_tolerance=0.0, dict_key_size_threshold=0.0, \
                   null_value=None)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6f84c41..0c5d9be 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -260,6 +260,5 @@ def build_extensions(self):
     python_requires=">=3.6",
     install_requires=[
         'tzdata >= 2020.5 ; sys_platform == "win32"',
-        'backports.zoneinfo >= 0.2.1 ; python_version < "3.9"',
     ],
 )
diff --git a/src/pyorc/converters.py b/src/pyorc/converters.py
index 2c5c787..24a25d6 100644
--- a/src/pyorc/converters.py
+++ b/src/pyorc/converters.py
@@ -1,16 +1,11 @@
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from datetime import date, datetime, timedelta, timezone as tz
+from datetime import date, datetime, timedelta, timezone as tz, tzinfo
 from decimal import Decimal, localcontext
 import math
 from typing import Dict, Tuple, Type
 
 from .enums import TypeKind
 
-try:
-    import zoneinfo
-except ImportError:
-    from backports import zoneinfo
-
 
 class ORCConverter(ABC):
     @staticmethod
@@ -27,7 +22,7 @@ def to_orc(*args):
 class TimestampConverter(ORCConverter):
     @staticmethod
     def from_orc(
-        seconds: int, nanoseconds: int, timezone: zoneinfo.ZoneInfo,
+        seconds: int, nanoseconds: int, timezone: tzinfo,
     ) -> datetime:
         epoch = datetime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, tzinfo=tz.utc)
         return (
@@ -35,7 +30,7 @@ def from_orc(
         ).astimezone(timezone)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def to_orc(obj: datetime, timezone: zoneinfo.ZoneInfo) -> Tuple[int, int]:
+    def to_orc(obj: datetime, timezone: tzinfo) -> Tuple[int, int]:
         return math.floor(obj.timestamp()), obj.microsecond * 1000
 
 
diff --git a/src/pyorc/reader.py b/src/pyorc/reader.py
index bf96bd2..7b31702 100644
--- a/src/pyorc/reader.py
+++ b/src/pyorc/reader.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
+from datetime import timezone, tzinfo
 from typing import Any, BinaryIO, Dict, Iterator, List, Optional, Type
 
 from pyorc._pyorc import reader, stripe
@@ -7,11 +8,6 @@
 from .enums import CompressionKind, StructRepr, TypeKind, WriterVersion
 from .predicates import Predicate
 
-try:
-    import zoneinfo
-except ImportError:
-    from backports import zoneinfo
-
 
 class Column:
     def __init__(self, stream, index):
@@ -57,7 +53,7 @@ def __init__(
         batch_size: int = 1024,
         column_indices: Optional[List[int]] = None,
         column_names: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-        timezone: zoneinfo.ZoneInfo = zoneinfo.ZoneInfo("UTC"),
+        timezone: tzinfo = timezone.utc,
         struct_repr: StructRepr = StructRepr.TUPLE,
         converters: Optional[Dict[TypeKind, Type[ORCConverter]]] = None,
         predicate: Optional[Predicate] = None,
diff --git a/src/pyorc/writer.py b/src/pyorc/writer.py
index dbafbb7..10190f7 100644
--- a/src/pyorc/writer.py
+++ b/src/pyorc/writer.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import copy
+from datetime import timezone, tzinfo
 from typing import Any, BinaryIO, Dict, List, Optional, Type, Union
 
 from pyorc._pyorc import writer
@@ -7,11 +8,6 @@
 from .enums import CompressionKind, CompressionStrategy, StructRepr, TypeKind
 from .typedescription import TypeDescription
 
-try:
-    import zoneinfo
-except ImportError:
-    from backports import zoneinfo
-
 
 class Writer(writer):
     def __init__(
@@ -26,7 +22,7 @@ def __init__(
         compression_block_size: int = 65536,
         bloom_filter_columns: Optional[List] = None,
         bloom_filter_fpp: float = 0.05,
-        timezone: zoneinfo.ZoneInfo = zoneinfo.ZoneInfo("UTC"),
+        timezone: tzinfo = timezone.utc,
         struct_repr: StructRepr = StructRepr.TUPLE,
         converters: Optional[Dict[TypeKind, Type[ORCConverter]]] = None,
         padding_tolerance: float = 0.0,