diff --git a/ion/pom.xml b/ion/pom.xml
index 5a76226b5..928417912 100644
--- a/ion/pom.xml
+++ b/ion/pom.xml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ tree model)
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.amazon.ion</groupId>
       <artifactId>ion-java</artifactId>
-      <version>1.11.7</version>
+      <version>1.11.8-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </dependency>
 
     <!-- Extends Jackson core, databind -->
diff --git a/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonFactory.java b/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonFactory.java
index 0c7843af8..2590d3c14 100644
--- a/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonFactory.java
+++ b/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonFactory.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.io.Reader;
 import java.io.Writer;
 
+import com.amazon.ion.IonEncodingVersion;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonEncoding;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonFactory;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
@@ -462,7 +463,11 @@ protected IonGenerator _createGenerator(OutputStream out, JsonEncoding enc, bool
         // Binary writers are simpler: no alternate encodings
         if (createBinaryWriters()) {
             ctxt.setEncoding(enc);
-            ion = _system.newBinaryWriter(out);
+            if (IonGenerator.Feature.ION_VERSION_1_1.enabledIn(_ionGeneratorFeatures)) {
+                ion = IonEncodingVersion.ION_1_1.binaryWriterBuilder().build(out);
+            } else {
+                ion = _system.newBinaryWriter(out);
+            }
             dst = out;
         } else {
             if (enc != JsonEncoding.UTF8) { // not sure if non-UTF-8 encodings would be legal...
@@ -472,9 +477,14 @@ protected IonGenerator _createGenerator(OutputStream out, JsonEncoding enc, bool
             // In practice we seem to be better off using Jackson's efficient buffering encoder
 
             ctxt.setEncoding(enc);
-            Writer w = new UTF8Writer(ctxt, out);
-            ion = _system.newTextWriter(w);
-            dst = w;
+            if (IonGenerator.Feature.ION_VERSION_1_1.enabledIn(_ionGeneratorFeatures)) {
+                // TODO use IonEncodingVersion.ION_1_1 to create a text writer builder
+                throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Cannot yet create an Ion 1.1 text writer.");
+            } else {
+                Writer w = new UTF8Writer(ctxt, out);
+                ion = _system.newTextWriter(w);
+                dst = w;
+            }
         }
         return _createGenerator(ion, true, ctxt, dst);
     }
diff --git a/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonGenerator.java b/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonGenerator.java
index 5207a31ee..6a56c2cdd 100644
--- a/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonGenerator.java
+++ b/ion/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/IonGenerator.java
@@ -66,6 +66,13 @@ public enum Feature implements FormatFeature // since 2.12
          * @since 2.12
          */
         USE_NATIVE_TYPE_ID(true),
+
+        /**
+         * Whether to use the Ion 1.1 encoding (true) or the Ion 1.0 encoding (false). Disabled by default.
+         *
+         * @since 2.18 // TODO change according to the minor version this lands in.
+         */
+        ION_VERSION_1_1(false),
         ;
 
         protected final boolean _defaultState;
diff --git a/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/DataBindRoundtripTest.java b/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/DataBindRoundtripTest.java
index 1ec062cc0..536668192 100644
--- a/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/DataBindRoundtripTest.java
+++ b/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/DataBindRoundtripTest.java
@@ -187,6 +187,17 @@ Bean roundTrip(IonObjectMapper m, Bean bean) throws IOException {
                 return m.readValue(data, 0, data.length, Bean.class);
             }
         },
+        BINARY_1_1 {
+            @Override
+            Bean roundTrip(IonObjectMapper m, Bean bean) throws IOException {
+                m.setCreateBinaryWriters(true);
+                m.configure(IonGenerator.Feature.ION_VERSION_1_1, true);
+                ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+                m.writeValue(out, bean);
+                byte[] data = out.toByteArray();
+                return m.readValue(data, 0, data.length, Bean.class);
+            }
+        },
         TEXT {
             @Override
             Bean roundTrip(IonObjectMapper m, Bean bean) throws IOException {
diff --git a/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/SimpleIonWriteTest.java b/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/SimpleIonWriteTest.java
index ce4e9dee3..57ec58e6f 100644
--- a/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/SimpleIonWriteTest.java
+++ b/ion/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/ion/SimpleIonWriteTest.java
@@ -46,11 +46,13 @@ public void testSimpleStructWriteText() throws Exception
         gen.close();
     }
 
-    @Test
-    public void testSimpleStructWriteBinary() throws Exception
+    private void testSimpleStructWriteBinary(boolean enableIon11) throws Exception
     {
         IonFactory f = new IonFactory();
         f.setCreateBinaryWriters(true);
+        if (enableIon11) {
+            f.configure(IonGenerator.Feature.ION_VERSION_1_1, true);
+        }
         ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
         JsonGenerator gen = f.createGenerator(bos);
         _writeSimple(gen);
@@ -60,6 +62,18 @@ public void testSimpleStructWriteBinary() throws Exception
         gen.close();
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testSimpleStructWriteBinary_1_0() throws Exception
+    {
+        testSimpleStructWriteBinary(false);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSimpleStructWriteBinary_1_1() throws Exception
+    {
+        testSimpleStructWriteBinary(true);
+    }
+
     /**
      * There were some problems with flushing (or lack thereof), so let's
      * see that outputting using an encoding stream also works ok