diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/icu.c b/src/calibre/utils/icu.c
index 608b0e62ab..f42a9dbaad 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/icu.c
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/icu.c
@@ -801,8 +801,7 @@ initicu(void)
     PyObject* m;
     UVersionInfo ver, uver;
     UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
-    char version[U_MAX_VERSION_STRING_LENGTH+1] = {0};
-    char uversion[U_MAX_VERSION_STRING_LENGTH+5] = {0};
+    char version[U_MAX_VERSION_STRING_LENGTH+1] = {0}, uversion[U_MAX_VERSION_STRING_LENGTH+5] = {0};
 
     u_init(&status);
     if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/icu.py b/src/calibre/utils/icu.py
index a70ec19acd..82c46dac57 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/icu.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/icu.py
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ else:
 
 def safe_chr(code):
     try:
-        return _icu.chr(code)
+        return _icu.chr(code).decode('utf-8')
     except AttributeError:
         return py_safe_chr(code)