diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 68fcd95397..19fdf00b5b 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: tiledb
 Type: Package
-Version: 0.21.1.10
+Version: 0.21.1.11
 Title: Universal Storage Engine for Sparse and Dense Multidimensional Arrays
 Authors@R: c(person("TileDB, Inc.", role = c("aut", "cph")),
  person("Dirk", "Eddelbuettel", email = "dirk@tiledb.com", role = "cre"))
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4ec2208ad7..a7ea41fb4b 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 
 * Use of TileDB Embedded was upgraded to release 2.17.3 (#606)
 
+* Factor variables with (unlikely) int64 indices are supported (#607)
+
 ## Bug Fixes
 
 * The DESCRIPTION file now correctly refers to macOS 10.14 (#596)
diff --git a/R/TileDBArray.R b/R/TileDBArray.R
index a097dfa683..96df9020f0 100644
--- a/R/TileDBArray.R
+++ b/R/TileDBArray.R
@@ -1008,6 +1008,9 @@ setMethod("[", "tiledb_array",
 
                           col <- col + 1L # adjust for zero-index C/C++ layer
 
+                          if (inherits(col, "integer64")) # can happen when Python writes
+                              col <- as.integer(col)
+
                           ## special case from schema evolution could have added twice so correct
                           if (min(col, na.rm=TRUE) == 2 && max(col, na.rm=TRUE) == length(dct) + 1)
                               col <- col - 1L