diff --git a/Doc/library/configparser.rst b/Doc/library/configparser.rst
index e09562d..af57cba 100644
--- a/Doc/library/configparser.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/configparser.rst
@@ -983,13 +983,16 @@
    .. method:: read(filenames, encoding=None)
 
       Attempt to read and parse a list of filenames, returning a list of
-      filenames which were successfully parsed.  If *filenames* is a string, it
-      is treated as a single filename.  If a file named in *filenames* cannot
-      be opened, that file will be ignored.  This is designed so that you can
-      specify a list of potential configuration file locations (for example,
-      the current directory, the user's home directory, and some system-wide
-      directory), and all existing configuration files in the list will be
-      read.  If none of the named files exist, the :class:`ConfigParser`
+      filenames which were successfully parsed.
+
+      If *filenames* is a string or :term:`path-like object`, it is treated as
+      a single filename.  If a file named in *filenames* cannot be opened, that
+      file will be ignored.  This is designed so that you can specify a list of
+      potential configuration file locations (for example, the current
+      directory, the user's home directory, and some system-wide directory),
+      and all existing configuration files in the list will be read.
+
+      If none of the named files exist, the :class:`ConfigParser`
       instance will contain an empty dataset.  An application which requires
       initial values to be loaded from a file should load the required file or
       files using :meth:`read_file` before calling :meth:`read` for any
@@ -1006,6 +1009,9 @@
          The *encoding* parameter.  Previously, all files were read using the
          default encoding for :func:`open`.
 
+      .. versionadded:: 3.6.1
+         The *filenames* parameter accepts a :term:`path-like object`.
+
 
    .. method:: read_file(f, source=None)
 
diff --git a/Lib/configparser.py b/Lib/configparser.py
index af5aca1..230ab2b 100644
--- a/Lib/configparser.py
+++ b/Lib/configparser.py
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@
 import functools
 import io
 import itertools
+import os
 import re
 import sys
 import warnings
@@ -687,7 +688,7 @@
 
         Return list of successfully read files.
         """
-        if isinstance(filenames, str):
+        if isinstance(filenames, (str, os.PathLike)):
             filenames = [filenames]
         read_ok = []
         for filename in filenames:
@@ -696,6 +697,8 @@
                     self._read(fp, filename)
             except OSError:
                 continue
+            if isinstance(filename, os.PathLike):
+                filename = os.fspath(filename)
             read_ok.append(filename)
         return read_ok
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_configparser.py b/Lib/test/test_configparser.py
index 0d06080..72c3f19 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_configparser.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_configparser.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import configparser
 import io
 import os
-import sys
+import pathlib
 import textwrap
 import unittest
 import warnings
@@ -721,6 +721,16 @@
         parsed_files = cf.read(file1)
         self.assertEqual(parsed_files, [file1])
         self.assertEqual(cf.get("Foo Bar", "foo"), "newbar")
+        # check when we pass only a Path object:
+        cf = self.newconfig()
+        parsed_files = cf.read(pathlib.Path(file1))
+        self.assertEqual(parsed_files, [file1])
+        self.assertEqual(cf.get("Foo Bar", "foo"), "newbar")
+        # check when we passed both a filename and a Path object:
+        cf = self.newconfig()
+        parsed_files = cf.read([pathlib.Path(file1), file1])
+        self.assertEqual(parsed_files, [file1, file1])
+        self.assertEqual(cf.get("Foo Bar", "foo"), "newbar")
         # check when we pass only missing files:
         cf = self.newconfig()
         parsed_files = cf.read(["nonexistent-file"])
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 2692043..692dc18 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- bpo-29623: Allow use of path-like object as a single argument in
+  ConfigParser.read().  Patch by David Ellis.
+
 - bpo-28963: Fix out of bound iteration in asyncio.Future.remove_done_callback
   implemented in C.