diff --git a/bot.py b/bot.py
index 2555fcb..201e542 100644
--- a/bot.py
+++ b/bot.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# use unicode encoding for all literals by default (for python2.x)
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 __author__ = "Steffen Vogel"
 __copyright__ = "Copyright 2015, Steffen Vogel"
 __license__ = "GPLv3"
diff --git a/session.py b/session.py
index c0dc01f..e7a6e8a 100644
--- a/session.py
+++ b/session.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# use unicode encoding for all literals by default (for python2.x)
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 __author__ = "Steffen Vogel"
 __copyright__ = "Copyright 2015, Steffen Vogel"
 __license__ = "GPLv3"
diff --git a/threadutils.py b/threadutils.py
index 59e7d51..cee0929 100644
--- a/threadutils.py
+++ b/threadutils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# use unicode encoding for all literals by default (for python2.x)
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 import Queue
 import threading