diff --git a/Doc/library/curses.rst b/Doc/library/curses.rst
index d6a35c3..ff3a793 100644
--- a/Doc/library/curses.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/curses.rst
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@
 --------------
 
 Window objects, as returned by :func:`initscr` and :func:`newwin` above, have
-the following methods:
+the following methods and attributes:
 
 
 .. method:: window.addch([y, x,] ch[, attr])
@@ -834,6 +834,16 @@
    event.
 
 
+.. attribute:: window.encoding
+
+   Encoding used to encode method arguments (Unicode strings and characters).
+   The encoding attribute is inherited from by parent window when a subwindow
+   is created, for example with :meth:`window.subwin`. By default, the locale
+   encoding is used (see :func:`locale.getpreferredencoding`).
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.3
+
+
 .. method:: window.erase()
 
    Clear the window.
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst b/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
index 0a1d0a3..eb41cca 100644
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
@@ -333,6 +333,11 @@
 curses
 ------
 
+ * If the :mod:`curses` module is linked to the ncursesw library, use Unicode
+   functions when Unicode strings or characters are passed (e.g.
+   :c:func:`waddwstr`), and bytes functions otherwise (e.g. :c:func:`waddstr`).
+ * Use the locale encoding instead of ``utf-8`` to encode Unicode strings.
+ * :class:`curses.window` has a new :attr:`curses.window.encoding` attribute.
  * The :class:`curses.window` class has a new :meth:`~curses.window.get_wch`
    method to get a wide character
  * The :mod:`curses` module has a new :meth:`~curses.unget_wch` function to