diff --git a/docs/index.md b/docs/index.md
index 71a6922..5178017 100644
--- a/docs/index.md
+++ b/docs/index.md
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ You can find the [resulting markdown here](sample_notebook_activity).
 For repositories that use multiple branches, it may be necessary to filter PRs by a branch name.  This can be done using the `--branch` parameter in the CLI.   Other git references can be used as well in place of a branch name.
 ```
 
-### Splitting PRs by tags and prefixes
+### Split PRs by tags and prefixes
 
 Often you wish to split your PRs into multiple categories so that they are easier
 to scan and parse. You may also _only_ want to keep some PRs (e.g. features, or API
@@ -80,6 +80,22 @@ You can choose to *remove* some types of PRs from your changelog by passing the
 left-most column above.
 ```
 
+## Pull release notes from PR descriptions
+
+You can optionally include snippets of release notes directly from the descriptions of Pull Requests.
+These will be included just underneath the bullet point text for each PR in the markdown output.
+
+To do so, follow these steps:
+
+1. In your PR description, include a markdown header that begins with `# Release notes`.
+   The header can be of any level, and capitalization does not matter.
+   All subsequent text in the PR description will be treated as the release notes, until a header of equal or lesser level is encountered.
+2. Use the `--include-release-notes` flag. For example:
+
+   ```
+   github-activity --include-release-notes
+   ```
+
 ## Use a GitHub API token
 
 `github-activity` uses the GitHub API to pull information about a repository's activity.
diff --git a/github_activity/cli.py b/github_activity/cli.py
index 473268d..122f9a9 100644
--- a/github_activity/cli.py
+++ b/github_activity/cli.py
@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@
     action="store_true",
     help="Include a list of opened items in the markdown output",
 )
+parser.add_argument(
+    "--include-release-notes",
+    default=False,
+    action="store_true",
+    help="Include the `# release notes` block of each PR in the output markdown.",
+)
 parser.add_argument(
     "--strip-brackets",
     default=False,
@@ -165,6 +171,7 @@ def main():
         tags=tags,
         include_issues=bool(args.include_issues),
         include_opened=bool(args.include_opened),
+        include_release_notes=bool(args.include_release_notes),
         strip_brackets=bool(args.strip_brackets),
         branch=args.branch,
     )
diff --git a/github_activity/github_activity.py b/github_activity/github_activity.py
index fbe6c5b..b30fed4 100644
--- a/github_activity/github_activity.py
+++ b/github_activity/github_activity.py
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 import shlex
 import subprocess
 import sys
-import urllib
 from pathlib import Path
 from subprocess import PIPE
 from subprocess import run
 from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+from textwrap import indent
 
 import dateutil
 import numpy as np
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ def generate_all_activity_md(
     tags=None,
     include_issues=False,
     include_opened=False,
+    include_release_notes=False,
     strip_brackets=False,
     branch=None,
 ):
@@ -207,6 +208,8 @@ def generate_all_activity_md(
         Include Issues in the markdown output. Default is False.
     include_opened : bool
         Include a list of opened items in the markdown output. Default is False.
+    include_release_notes : bool
+        Include the release notes for any PRs with `# Release notes` in the description.
     strip_brackets : bool
         If True, strip any text between brackets at the beginning of the issue/PR title.
         E.g., [MRG], [DOC], etc.
@@ -300,6 +303,7 @@ def generate_activity_md(
     tags=None,
     include_issues=False,
     include_opened=False,
+    include_release_notes=False,
     strip_brackets=False,
     heading_level=1,
     branch=None,
@@ -338,6 +342,9 @@ def generate_activity_md(
         Include Issues in the markdown output. Default is False.
     include_opened : bool
         Include a list of opened items in the markdown output. Default is False.
+    include_release_notes : bool
+        Search PR descriptions for a `# Release Notes` block. If found, include
+        the contents of this block with the changelog output for the PR.
     strip_brackets : bool
         If True, strip any text between brackets at the beginning of the issue/PR title.
         E.g., [MRG], [DOC], etc.
@@ -537,9 +544,34 @@ def generate_activity_md(
             for irow, irowdata in items["data"].iterrows():
                 author = irowdata["author"]
                 ititle = irowdata["title"]
+                description = irowdata["body"]
                 if strip_brackets and ititle.strip().startswith("[") and "]" in ititle:
                     ititle = ititle.split("]", 1)[-1].strip()
                 this_md = f"- {ititle} [#{irowdata['number']}]({irowdata['url']}) ([@{author}](https://github.com/{author}))"
+
+                # Search the description for release notes and add them if they exist
+                if include_release_notes:
+                    release_notes = []
+                    in_release_notes = False
+                    n_levels = None
+                    for ii in description.split("\n"):
+                        if in_release_notes:
+                            # If we detect a header of equal or lesser level, stop looking
+                            if ii.startswith("#") and len(ii.split(" ")[0]) <= n_levels:
+                                break
+                            # Otherwise append the line and keep going
+                            release_notes.append(ii)
+                        elif "# release notes" in ii.lower():
+                            # When we detect a release notes header,
+                            # start collecting lines underneath and define the header
+                            # level so we know when to stop
+                            in_release_notes = True
+                            n_levels = len(ii.split(" ")[0])
+
+                    if release_notes:
+                        this_md += "\n\n" + indent(
+                            "\n".join(release_notes).strip(), "  "
+                        )
                 items["md"].append(this_md)
 
     # Get functional GitHub references: any git reference or master@{YY-mm-dd}
diff --git a/github_activity/graphql.py b/github_activity/graphql.py
index 00f7af6..05a4e1a 100644
--- a/github_activity/graphql.py
+++ b/github_activity/graphql.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
         id
         title
         url
+        body
         createdAt
         updatedAt
         closedAt
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 6e191a0..5c275e8 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -80,3 +80,19 @@ def test_cli_all(tmpdir, file_regression):
     md = path_output.read_text()
     index = md.index("## v0.2.0")
     file_regression.check(md[index:], extension=".md")
+
+
+def test_release_notes(tmpdir, file_regression):
+    """Release notes that are automatically pulled from PR descriptions."""
+    path_tmp = Path(tmpdir)
+    path_output = path_tmp.joinpath("out.md")
+    url = "https://github.com/executablebooks/jupyter-book"
+
+    # This release range covers PRs with
+    cmd = f"github-activity {url} -s v0.7.1 -u v0.7.3 --include-release-notes -o {path_output}"
+
+    run(cmd.split(), check=True)
+
+    md = path_output.read_text()
+    test_md = md[md.index("## New features added") : md.index("## Bugs fixed")]
+    file_regression.check(test_md, extension=".md")
diff --git a/tests/test_cli/test_release_notes.md b/tests/test_cli/test_release_notes.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c780531
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli/test_release_notes.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+## New features added
+
+- ✨ NEW: Adding - chapter entries to _toc.yml [#817](https://github.com/executablebooks/jupyter-book/pull/817) ([@choldgraf](https://github.com/choldgraf))
+
+  Here's an example of the TOC structure:
+
+  ```yaml
+  - file: intro
+    numbered: true
+
+  - chapter: Get started
+    sections:
+    - file: start/overview
+    - file: start/build
+
+  - chapter: Book pages and types
+    sections:
+    - file: content/markdown
+    - file: content/notebooks
+
+  - chapter: Reference and test pages
+    sections:
+    - file: test_pages/test
+      sections:
+        - file: test_pages/layout_elements
+        - file: test_pages/equations
+  ```
+
+## Enhancements made
+
+- 👌 IMPROVE: improving numbered sections [#826](https://github.com/executablebooks/jupyter-book/pull/826) ([@choldgraf](https://github.com/choldgraf))
+- checking for toc modification time [#772](https://github.com/executablebooks/jupyter-book/pull/772) ([@choldgraf](https://github.com/choldgraf))
+
+  This is an attempt at checking for the modification time of the table of contents file and forcing a re-build of all pages if this happens. We need to do this because otherwise people could change the toc, but Sphinx won't know to re-build some pages and these TOC changes won't be reflected.
+
+  #### This heading will be included in release notes
+
+  Here's a sub-heading
+- first pass toc directive [#757](https://github.com/executablebooks/jupyter-book/pull/757) ([@choldgraf](https://github.com/choldgraf))
+