diff --git a/plugins/talks.py b/plugins/talks.py
index 072cd57..0864022 100644
--- a/plugins/talks.py
+++ b/plugins/talks.py
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ class TalkGridDirective(Directive):
                                  timestep=GRID_STEP,
                                  )
             output.append(nodes.raw('', u'<h4>%s</h4>' %
-                                    day.strftime('%A %d').title(),
+                                    day.strftime('%A %d').decode('utf8').title(),
                                     format='html'))
             output.append(nodes.raw('', render, format='html'))
         return output