diff --git a/dace/codegen/cppunparse.py b/dace/codegen/cppunparse.py
index 4fe522389a..a0a14a3033 100644
--- a/dace/codegen/cppunparse.py
+++ b/dace/codegen/cppunparse.py
@@ -532,7 +532,11 @@ def _write_constant(self, value):
             # Substitute overflowing decimal literal for AST infinities.
             self.write(result.replace("inf", INFSTR))
         else:
-            self.write(result.replace('\'', '\"'))
+            # Special case for strings of containing byte literals (but are still strings).
+            if result.find("b'") >= 0:
+                self.write(result)
+            else:
+                self.write(result.replace('\'', '\"'))
 
     def _Constant(self, t):
         value = t.value
diff --git a/dace/dtypes.py b/dace/dtypes.py
index ffff6fb8d9..4bbe833bac 100644
--- a/dace/dtypes.py
+++ b/dace/dtypes.py
@@ -947,6 +947,12 @@ def get_trampoline(self, pyfunc, other_arguments):
         from functools import partial
         from dace import data, symbolic
 
+        def _string_converter(a: str, *args):
+            tmp = ctypes.cast(a, ctypes.c_char_p).value.decode('utf-8')
+            if tmp.startswith(chr(0xFFFF)):
+                return bytes(tmp[1:], 'utf-8')
+            return tmp
+
         inp_arraypos = []
         ret_arraypos = []
         inp_types_and_sizes = []
@@ -961,7 +967,7 @@ def get_trampoline(self, pyfunc, other_arguments):
             elif isinstance(arg, data.Scalar) and arg.dtype == string:
                 inp_arraypos.append(index)
                 inp_types_and_sizes.append((ctypes.c_char_p, []))
-                inp_converters.append(lambda a, *args: ctypes.cast(a, ctypes.c_char_p).value.decode('utf-8'))
+                inp_converters.append(_string_converter)
             elif isinstance(arg, data.Scalar) and isinstance(arg.dtype, pointer):
                 inp_arraypos.append(index)
                 inp_types_and_sizes.append((ctypes.c_void_p, []))
diff --git a/dace/frontend/common/einsum.py b/dace/frontend/common/einsum.py
index f553115a23..b9c3fff6b4 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/common/einsum.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/common/einsum.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from dace.sdfg import SDFG, SDFGState, InterstateEdge
 from dace.memlet import Memlet
 from dace.frontend.common import op_repository as oprepo
+from dace.frontend.python.common import StringLiteral
 
 
 def _is_sequential(index_list):
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ def prod(iterable):
 def create_einsum_sdfg(pv: 'dace.frontend.python.newast.ProgramVisitor',
                        sdfg: SDFG,
                        state: SDFGState,
-                       einsum_string: str,
+                       einsum_string: StringLiteral,
                        *arrays: str,
                        dtype: Optional[dtypes.typeclass] = None,
                        optimize: bool = False,
@@ -170,7 +171,7 @@ def create_einsum_sdfg(pv: 'dace.frontend.python.newast.ProgramVisitor',
                        beta: Optional[symbolic.SymbolicType] = 0.0):
     return _create_einsum_internal(sdfg,
                                    state,
-                                   einsum_string,
+                                   str(einsum_string),
                                    *arrays,
                                    dtype=dtype,
                                    optimize=optimize,
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/astutils.py b/dace/frontend/python/astutils.py
index 84f40415fb..812f9c390b 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/astutils.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/astutils.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import numpy
 import sympy
 import sys
-from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Tuple
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Union
 
 from dace import dtypes, symbolic
 
@@ -684,8 +684,10 @@ def create_constant(value: Any, node: Optional[ast.AST] = None) -> ast.AST:
     return newnode
 
 
-def escape_string(value: str):
+def escape_string(value: Union[bytes, str]):
     """ Converts special Python characters in strings back to their parsable version (e.g., newline to ``\n``) """
+    if isinstance(value, bytes):
+        return f"{chr(0xFFFF)}{value.decode('utf-8')}"
     if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
         return value.encode("unicode_escape").decode("utf-8")
     # Python 2.x
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/cached_program.py b/dace/frontend/python/cached_program.py
index 1b5f48e688..bdbf958917 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/cached_program.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/cached_program.py
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@ def _make_hashable(obj):
     except TypeError:
         return repr(obj)
 
+def _make_sortable(obj):
+    try:
+        obj < obj
+        return obj
+    except TypeError:
+        return repr(obj)
 
 @dataclass
 class ProgramCacheKey:
@@ -58,7 +64,7 @@ def __init__(self, arg_types: ArgTypes, closure_types: ArgTypes, closure_constan
             tuple((k, str(v.to_json())) for k, v in sorted(arg_types.items())),
             tuple((k, str(v.to_json())) for k, v in sorted(closure_types.items())),
             tuple((k, _make_hashable(v)) for k, v in sorted(closure_constants.items())),
-            tuple(sorted(specified_args)),
+            tuple(sorted(_make_sortable(a) for a in specified_args)),
         )
 
     def __hash__(self) -> int:
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/common.py b/dace/frontend/python/common.py
index 47bfb48ced..ffb5123c8d 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/common.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/common.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 
 class DaceSyntaxError(Exception):
+
     def __init__(self, visitor, node: ast.AST, message: str):
         self.visitor = visitor
         self.node = node
@@ -37,10 +38,20 @@ def inverse_dict_lookup(dict: Dict[str, Any], value: Any):
     return None
 
 
+@dataclass(unsafe_hash=True)
+class StringLiteral:
+    """ A string literal found in a parsed DaCe program. """
+    value: Union[str, bytes]
+
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
+        return self.value
+
+
 class SDFGConvertible(object):
     """ 
     A mixin that defines the interface to annotate SDFG-convertible objects.
     """
+
     def __sdfg__(self, *args, **kwargs) -> SDFG:
         """
         Returns an SDFG representation of this object.
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/newast.py b/dace/frontend/python/newast.py
index 97b8e5828d..1281f3e318 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/newast.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/newast.py
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
 from dace.config import Config
 from dace.frontend.common import op_repository as oprepo
 from dace.frontend.python import astutils
-from dace.frontend.python.common import (DaceSyntaxError, SDFGClosure, SDFGConvertible, inverse_dict_lookup)
+from dace.frontend.python.common import (DaceSyntaxError, SDFGClosure, SDFGConvertible, inverse_dict_lookup,
+                                         StringLiteral)
 from dace.frontend.python.astutils import ExtNodeVisitor, ExtNodeTransformer
 from dace.frontend.python.astutils import rname
 from dace.frontend.python import nested_call, replacements, preprocessing
@@ -261,7 +262,7 @@ def repl_callback(repldict):
 ]
 # Extra AST node types that are disallowed after preprocessing
 _DISALLOWED_STMTS = DISALLOWED_STMTS + [
-    'Global', 'Assert', 'Print', 'Nonlocal', 'Raise', 'Starred', 'AsyncFor', 'Bytes', 'ListComp', 'GeneratorExp',
+    'Global', 'Assert', 'Print', 'Nonlocal', 'Raise', 'Starred', 'AsyncFor', 'ListComp', 'GeneratorExp',
     'SetComp', 'DictComp', 'comprehension'
 ]
 
@@ -3924,14 +3925,15 @@ def create_callback(self, node: ast.Call, create_graph=True):
                     else:
                         allargs.append(parsed_arg)
                 else:
-                    if isinstance(parsed_arg, (Number, numpy.number, type(None))):
+                    if isinstance(parsed_arg, StringLiteral):
+                        # Special case for strings
+                        parsed_arg = f'"{astutils.escape_string(parsed_arg.value)}"'
+                        atype = data.Scalar(dtypes.string)
+                    elif isinstance(parsed_arg, (Number, numpy.number, type(None))):
                         atype = data.create_datadescriptor(type(parsed_arg))
                     else:
                         atype = data.create_datadescriptor(parsed_arg)
 
-                    if isinstance(parsed_arg, str):
-                        # Special case for strings
-                        parsed_arg = f'"{astutils.escape_string(parsed_arg)}"'
                     allargs.append(parsed_arg)
 
                 argtypes.append(atype)
@@ -4444,8 +4446,12 @@ def _visitname(self, name: str, node: ast.AST):
 
     #### Visitors that return arrays
     def visit_Str(self, node: ast.Str):
-        # A string constant returns itself
-        return node.s
+        # A string constant returns a string literal
+        return StringLiteral(node.s)
+
+    def visit_Bytes(self, node: ast.Bytes):
+        # A bytes constant returns a string literal
+        return StringLiteral(node.s)
 
     def visit_Num(self, node: ast.Num):
         if isinstance(node.n, bool):
@@ -4459,6 +4465,8 @@ def visit_Constant(self, node: ast.Constant):
             return dace.bool_(node.value)
         if isinstance(node.value, (int, float, complex)):
             return dtypes.DTYPE_TO_TYPECLASS[type(node.value)](node.value)
+        if isinstance(node.value, (str, bytes)):
+            return StringLiteral(node.value)
         return node.value
 
     def visit_Name(self, node: ast.Name):
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/parser.py b/dace/frontend/python/parser.py
index 5e43bf2c0a..2e4c3809b0 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/parser.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/parser.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Copyright 2019-2021 ETH Zurich and the DaCe authors. All rights reserved.
 """ DaCe Python parsing functionality and entry point to Python frontend. """
+import ast
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 import inspect
 import itertools
@@ -523,7 +524,7 @@ def _get_type_annotations(
 
                 types.update({f'__arg{j}': create_datadescriptor(varg) for j, varg in enumerate(vargs)})
                 arg_mapping.update({f'__arg{j}': varg for j, varg in enumerate(vargs)})
-                gvar_mapping[aname] = tuple(f'__arg{j}' for j in range(len(vargs)))
+                gvar_mapping[aname] = tuple(ast.Name(id=f'__arg{j}') for j in range(len(vargs)))
                 specified_args.update(set(gvar_mapping[aname]))
                 # Shift arg_ind to the end
                 arg_ind = len(given_args)
@@ -538,7 +539,7 @@ def _get_type_annotations(
                                       f'arguments (invalid argument name: "{aname}").')
                 types.update({f'__kwarg_{k}': v for k, v in vargs.items()})
                 arg_mapping.update({f'__kwarg_{k}': given_kwargs[k] for k in vargs.keys()})
-                gvar_mapping[aname] = {k: f'__kwarg_{k}' for k in vargs.keys()}
+                gvar_mapping[aname] = {k: ast.Name(id=f'__kwarg_{k}') for k in vargs.keys()}
                 specified_args.update({f'__kwarg_{k}' for k in vargs.keys()})
             # END OF VARIABLE-LENGTH ARGUMENTS
             else:
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/preprocessing.py b/dace/frontend/python/preprocessing.py
index 94a4cc175e..966518d5f2 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/preprocessing.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/preprocessing.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 from dace.config import Config
 from dace.sdfg import SDFG
 from dace.frontend.python import astutils
-from dace.frontend.python.common import (DaceSyntaxError, SDFGConvertible, SDFGClosure)
+from dace.frontend.python.common import (DaceSyntaxError, SDFGConvertible, SDFGClosure, StringLiteral)
 
 
 class DaceRecursionError(Exception):
@@ -474,10 +474,14 @@ def global_value_to_node(self,
         elif isinstance(value, symbolic.symbol):
             # Symbols resolve to the symbol name
             newnode = ast.Name(id=value.name, ctx=ast.Load())
-        elif (dtypes.isconstant(value) or isinstance(value, SDFG) or hasattr(value, '__sdfg__')):
+        elif isinstance(value, ast.Name):
+            newnode = ast.Name(id=value.id, ctx=ast.Load())
+        elif (dtypes.isconstant(value) or isinstance(value, (StringLiteral, SDFG)) or hasattr(value, '__sdfg__')):
             # Could be a constant, an SDFG, or SDFG-convertible object
             if isinstance(value, SDFG) or hasattr(value, '__sdfg__'):
                 self.closure.closure_sdfgs[id(value)] = (qualname, value)
+            elif isinstance(value, StringLiteral):
+                value = value.value
             else:
                 # If this is a function call to a None function, do not add its result to the closure
                 if isinstance(parent_node, ast.Call):
diff --git a/dace/frontend/python/replacements.py b/dace/frontend/python/replacements.py
index 5b4245f06e..cf53caec24 100644
--- a/dace/frontend/python/replacements.py
+++ b/dace/frontend/python/replacements.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from dace.config import Config
 from dace import data, dtypes, subsets, symbolic, sdfg as sd
 from dace.frontend.common import op_repository as oprepo
-from dace.frontend.python.common import DaceSyntaxError
+from dace.frontend.python.common import DaceSyntaxError, StringLiteral
 import dace.frontend.python.memlet_parser as mem_parser
 from dace.frontend.python import astutils
 from dace.frontend.python.nested_call import NestedCall
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ def _define_literal_ex(pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
                        obj: Any,
                        dtype: dace.typeclass = None,
                        copy: bool = True,
-                       order: str = 'K',
+                       order: StringLiteral = StringLiteral('K'),
                        subok: bool = False,
                        ndmin: int = 0,
                        like: Any = None,
@@ -133,10 +133,10 @@ def _define_literal_ex(pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
             desc.dtype = dtype
     else:  # From literal / constant
         if dtype is None:
-            arr = np.array(obj, copy=copy, order=order, subok=subok, ndmin=ndmin)
+            arr = np.array(obj, copy=copy, order=str(order), subok=subok, ndmin=ndmin)
         else:
             npdtype = dtype.as_numpy_dtype()
-            arr = np.array(obj, npdtype, copy=copy, order=order, subok=subok, ndmin=ndmin)
+            arr = np.array(obj, npdtype, copy=copy, order=str(order), subok=subok, ndmin=ndmin)
         desc = data.create_datadescriptor(arr)
 
     # Set extra properties
@@ -3963,17 +3963,20 @@ def implement_ufunc_outer(visitor: 'ProgramVisitor', ast_node: ast.Call, sdfg: S
 
 
 @oprepo.replaces('numpy.reshape')
-def reshape(pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
-            sdfg: SDFG,
-            state: SDFGState,
-            arr: str,
-            newshape: Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType, Tuple[Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType]]],
-            order='C') -> str:
+def reshape(
+    pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
+    sdfg: SDFG,
+    state: SDFGState,
+    arr: str,
+    newshape: Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType, Tuple[Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType]]],
+    order: StringLiteral = StringLiteral('C')
+) -> str:
     if isinstance(arr, (list, tuple)) and len(arr) == 1:
         arr = arr[0]
     desc = sdfg.arrays[arr]
 
     # "order" determines stride orders
+    order = str(order)
     fortran_strides = False
     if order == 'F' or (order == 'A' and desc.strides[0] == 1):
         # FORTRAN strides
@@ -4063,8 +4066,10 @@ def size(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: str) -> Size:
 @oprepo.replaces_attribute('Array', 'flat')
 @oprepo.replaces_attribute('Scalar', 'flat')
 @oprepo.replaces_attribute('View', 'flat')
-def flat(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: str, order: str = 'C') -> str:
+def flat(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: str,
+         order: StringLiteral = StringLiteral('C')) -> str:
     desc = sdfg.arrays[arr]
+    order = str(order)
     totalsize = data._prod(desc.shape)
     if order not in ('C', 'F'):
         raise NotImplementedError(f'Order "{order}" not yet supported for flattening')
@@ -4153,12 +4158,14 @@ def _ndarray_fill(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: str,
 
 @oprepo.replaces_method('Array', 'reshape')
 @oprepo.replaces_method('View', 'reshape')
-def _ndarray_reshape(pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
-                     sdfg: SDFG,
-                     state: SDFGState,
-                     arr: str,
-                     newshape: Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType, Tuple[Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType]]],
-                     order='C') -> str:
+def _ndarray_reshape(
+    pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
+    sdfg: SDFG,
+    state: SDFGState,
+    arr: str,
+    newshape: Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType, Tuple[Union[str, symbolic.SymbolicType]]],
+    order: StringLiteral = StringLiteral('C')
+) -> str:
     return reshape(pv, sdfg, state, arr, newshape, order)
 
 
@@ -4175,7 +4182,11 @@ def _ndarray_transpose(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr:
 @oprepo.replaces_method('Array', 'flatten')
 @oprepo.replaces_method('Scalar', 'flatten')
 @oprepo.replaces_method('View', 'flatten')
-def _ndarray_flatten(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: str, order: str = 'C') -> str:
+def _ndarray_flatten(pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
+                     sdfg: SDFG,
+                     state: SDFGState,
+                     arr: str,
+                     order: StringLiteral = StringLiteral('C')) -> str:
     new_arr = flat(pv, sdfg, state, arr, order)
     # `flatten` always returns a copy
     if isinstance(new_arr, data.View):
@@ -4186,7 +4197,11 @@ def _ndarray_flatten(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: st
 @oprepo.replaces_method('Array', 'ravel')
 @oprepo.replaces_method('Scalar', 'ravel')
 @oprepo.replaces_method('View', 'ravel')
-def _ndarray_ravel(pv: 'ProgramVisitor', sdfg: SDFG, state: SDFGState, arr: str, order: str = 'C') -> str:
+def _ndarray_ravel(pv: 'ProgramVisitor',
+                   sdfg: SDFG,
+                   state: SDFGState,
+                   arr: str,
+                   order: StringLiteral = StringLiteral('C')) -> str:
     # `ravel` returns a copy only when necessary (sounds like ndarray.flat)
     return flat(pv, sdfg, state, arr, order)
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 27e00b2191..227fbb7bc6 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
     cmake_path = shutil.which('cmake')
     if cmake_path:
         # CMake is available, check version
-        output = subprocess.check_output([cmake_path, '--version'], text=True)
+        output = subprocess.check_output([cmake_path, '--version']).decode('utf-8')
         cmake_version = tuple(int(t) for t in output.splitlines()[0].split(' ')[-1].split('.'))
         # If version meets minimum requirements, CMake is not necessary
         if cmake_version >= (3, 15):
diff --git a/tests/python_frontend/string_test.py b/tests/python_frontend/string_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5db79f6fa9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/python_frontend/string_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Copyright 2019-2022 ETH Zurich and the DaCe authors. All rights reserved.
+
+import dace
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+
+
+def callback_inhibitor(f):
+    return f
+
+def test_string_literal_in_callback():
+    success = False
+    @callback_inhibitor
+    def cb(a):
+        nonlocal success
+        if a == 'a':
+            success = True
+
+
+    @dace
+    def tester(a):
+        cb('a')
+
+    
+    a = np.random.rand(1)
+    tester(a)
+
+    assert success is True
+
+
+def test_bytes_literal_in_callback():
+    success = False
+    @callback_inhibitor
+    def cb(a):
+        nonlocal success
+        if a == b'Hello World!':
+            success = True
+
+
+    @dace
+    def tester(a):
+        cb(b'Hello World!')
+
+    
+    a = np.random.rand(1)
+    tester(a)
+
+    assert success is True
+
+
+def test_string_literal_in_callback_2():
+    success = False
+    @callback_inhibitor
+    def cb(a):
+        nonlocal success
+        if a == "b'Hello World!'":
+            success = True
+
+
+    @dace
+    def tester(a):
+        cb("b'Hello World!'")
+
+    
+    a = np.random.rand(1)
+    tester(a)
+
+    assert success is True
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skip
+def test_string_literal():
+
+    @dace
+    def tester():
+        return 'Hello World!'
+    
+    assert tester()[0] == 'Hello World!'
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skip
+def test_bytes_literal():
+
+    @dace
+    def tester():
+        return b'Hello World!'
+    
+    assert tester()[0] == b'Hello World!'
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    test_string_literal_in_callback()
+    test_bytes_literal_in_callback()
+    test_string_literal_in_callback_2()
+    # test_string_literal()
+    # test_bytes_literal()