diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
index eb487aaa..703474a6 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # define an alias for the specific python version used in this file.
-FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bullseye as python
+FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bookworm as python
 
 # Python build stage
 FROM python as python-build-stage
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/docs/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/docs/Dockerfile
index 37e3baa3..41ab15b9 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/docs/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/docs/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # define an alias for the specific python version used in this file.
-FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bullseye as python
+FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bookworm as python
 
 
 # Python build stage
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/node/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/node/Dockerfile
index 052f41b8..41f42b62 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/node/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/node/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM node:20-bullseye-slim
+FROM node:20-bookworm-slim
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
index f551813d..e0da6063 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {% if cookiecutter.frontend_pipeline in ['Gulp', 'Webpack'] -%}
-FROM node:20-bullseye-slim as client-builder
+FROM node:20-bookworm-slim as client-builder
 
 ARG APP_HOME=/app
 WORKDIR ${APP_HOME}
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ RUN npm run build
 
 {%- endif %}
 # define an alias for the specific python version used in this file.
-FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bullseye as python
+FROM python:3.11.7-slim-bookworm as python
 
 # Python build stage
 FROM python as python-build-stage
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/utility/requirements-bookworm.apt b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/utility/requirements-bookworm.apt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a4910eb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/utility/requirements-bookworm.apt
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+##basic build dependencies of various Django apps for Debian Bookworm 12.x
+#build-essential metapackage install: make, gcc, g++,
+build-essential
+#required to translate
+gettext
+python3-dev
+
+##shared dependencies of:
+##Pillow, pylibmc
+zlib1g-dev
+
+##Postgresql and psycopg2 dependencies
+libpq-dev
+
+##Pillow dependencies
+libtiff5-dev
+libjpeg62-turbo-dev
+libfreetype6-dev
+liblcms2-dev
+libwebp-dev
+
+##django-extensions
+libgraphviz-dev