diff --git a/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.cc b/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.cc
index bfbd8b12beac44937ae932183b2d928f066301c2..26d763629bfec567243b45f94436e9dfa590a3e3 100644
--- a/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.cc
+++ b/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.cc
@@ -39,19 +39,19 @@ void katz(GraphInterface& g, boost::any w, boost::any c, boost::any beta,
         throw ValueException("personalization vertex property must be of floating point"
                              " value type");
 
-    typedef ConstantPropertyMap<int, GraphInterface::edge_t> weight_map_t;
+    typedef ConstantPropertyMap<double, GraphInterface::edge_t> weight_map_t;
     typedef mpl::push_back<writable_edge_scalar_properties, weight_map_t>::type
         weight_props_t;
 
     if(w.empty())
-        w = weight_map_t(1);
+        w = weight_map_t(1.);
 
-    typedef ConstantPropertyMap<int, GraphInterface::vertex_t> beta_map_t;
+    typedef ConstantPropertyMap<double, GraphInterface::vertex_t> beta_map_t;
     typedef mpl::push_back<vertex_floating_properties, beta_map_t>::type
         beta_props_t;
 
     if(beta.empty())
-        beta = beta_map_t(1);
+        beta = beta_map_t(1.);
 
     run_action<>()(g, bind<void>
                    (get_katz(), _1, g.GetVertexIndex(), _2,
diff --git a/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.hh b/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.hh
index aca3772afa9d6b48517fa8123451f51d6baa088b..ebb40f597d08c1d81846ac56ae0978ee542a47db 100644
--- a/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.hh
+++ b/src/graph/centrality/graph_katz.hh
@@ -44,14 +44,12 @@ struct get_katz
         CentralityMap c_temp(vertex_index, num_vertices(g));
 
         t_type delta = epsilon + 1;
-        t_type norm = 0;
         size_t iter = 0;
         int i, N = num_vertices(g);
         while (delta >= epsilon)
         {
-            norm = 0;
             #pragma omp parallel for default(shared) private(i) \
-                schedule(static) if (N > 100) reduction(+:norm)
+                schedule(static) if (N > 100)
             for (i = 0; i < N; ++i)
             {
                 typename graph_traits<Graph>::vertex_descriptor v =
@@ -66,14 +64,12 @@ struct get_katz
                 {
                     typename graph_traits<Graph>::vertex_descriptor s;
                     if (is_directed::apply<Graph>::type::value)
-                        s = source(*e,g);
+                        s = source(*e, g);
                     else
-                        s = target(*e,g);
+                        s = target(*e, g);
                     c_temp[v] += alpha * get(w, *e) * c[s];
                 }
-                norm += power(c_temp[v], 2);
             }
-            norm = sqrt(norm);
 
             delta = 0;
             #pragma omp parallel for default(shared) private(i) \
@@ -84,13 +80,12 @@ struct get_katz
                     vertex(i, g);
                 if (v == graph_traits<Graph>::null_vertex())
                     continue;
-                c_temp[v] /= norm;
                 delta += abs(c_temp[v] - c[v]);
             }
             swap(c_temp, c);
 
             ++iter;
-            if (max_iter > 0 && iter== max_iter)
+            if (max_iter > 0 && iter == max_iter)
                 break;
         }
 
@@ -104,7 +99,7 @@ struct get_katz
                     vertex(i, g);
                 if (v == graph_traits<Graph>::null_vertex())
                     continue;
-                c[v] = c_temp[v];
+                c_temp[v] = c[v];
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/graph_tool/centrality/__init__.py b/src/graph_tool/centrality/__init__.py
index 6bc5a4f53c7b42a85c34953d20a3a9946983f273..9e18c13622a2790d4de26ffcf4d4cc0c0d6bd6ab 100644
--- a/src/graph_tool/centrality/__init__.py
+++ b/src/graph_tool/centrality/__init__.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ from .. import _prop, ungroup_vector_property
 from .. topology import shortest_distance
 import sys
 import numpy
+import numpy.linalg
 
 __all__ = ["pagerank", "betweenness", "central_point_dominance", "closeness",
            "eigentrust", "eigenvector", "katz", "hits", "trust_transitivity"]
@@ -622,7 +623,8 @@ def eigenvector(g, weight=None, vprop=None, epsilon=1e-6, max_iter=None):
     return ee, vprop
 
 
-def katz(g, alpha=0.01, beta=None, weight=None, vprop=None, epsilon=1e-6, max_iter=None):
+def katz(g, alpha=0.01, beta=None, weight=None, vprop=None, epsilon=1e-6,
+         max_iter=None, norm=True):
     r"""
     Calculate the Katz centrality of each vertex in the graph.
 
@@ -646,6 +648,8 @@ def katz(g, alpha=0.01, beta=None, weight=None, vprop=None, epsilon=1e-6, max_it
         vertices are below this value.
     max_iter : int, optional (default: ``None``)
         If supplied, this will limit the total number of iterations.
+    norm : bool, optional (default: ``True``)
+        Whether or not the centrality values should be normalized.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -723,15 +727,15 @@ def katz(g, alpha=0.01, beta=None, weight=None, vprop=None, epsilon=1e-6, max_it
        Weblogging Ecosystem (2005). :DOI:`10.1145/1134271.1134277`
     """
 
-    if vprop == None:
+    if vprop is None:
         vprop = g.new_vertex_property("double")
-        N = len(vprop.a)
-        vprop.a = beta.a[:N] if beta is not None else 1.
     if max_iter is None:
         max_iter = 0
-    ee = libgraph_tool_centrality.\
+    libgraph_tool_centrality.\
          get_katz(g._Graph__graph, _prop("e", g, weight), _prop("v", g, vprop),
-         _prop("v", beta, vprop), float(alpha), epsilon, max_iter)
+                  _prop("v", g, beta), float(alpha), epsilon, max_iter)
+    if norm:
+        vprop.fa = vprop.fa / numpy.linalg.norm(vprop.fa)
     return vprop