release/v1.7.8 (#342)

* style: reformat per black's 1-blank line after module docstring convention

* chore: remove support for py39 add support for py314

* chore: update version strings

release: v1.7.7

release: v1.7.6 (#305)

* release: prepare for release of v1.7.6

* chore: update workflow files to remove Python<3.9 and add 3.12

* chore: update version strings

release: v1.7.5 (#258)

* chore: update version strings

release/v1.7.4 (#249)

* chore: update version strings

* fix: identifying reST directive as sphinx field item

* test: for identifying reST directive as sphinx field item

* chore: update version strings

* chore: fix workflow file

* chore: update version strings

Release v1.7.3

chore: update CHANGELOG.md for new release

chore: update CHANGELOG.md for new release

Release v1.7.0

release: v1.6.5