diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 4a04634b6..edf79f773 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 ## __NEXT__
 
+### Features
+
+* io: Add `open_file` and `write_sequences` to the Python Pubic API. [#1114][] (@joverlee521)
+
+[#1114]: https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1114
 
 ## 19.0.0 (13 December 2022)
 
diff --git a/augur/io/__init__.py b/augur/io/__init__.py
index 31421f1e2..71fc4b073 100644
--- a/augur/io/__init__.py
+++ b/augur/io/__init__.py
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 """
 # Functions and variables exposed here are part of Augur's public Python API.
 # To use functions internally, import directly from the submodule.
+from .file import open_file
 from .metadata import read_metadata
-from .sequences import read_sequences
+from .sequences import read_sequences, write_sequences