diff --git a/docs/content.rst b/docs/content.rst
index 4b19515f..0e3310f1 100644
--- a/docs/content.rst
+++ b/docs/content.rst
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ this metadata in text files via the following syntax (give your file the
     :authors: Alexis Metaireau, Conan Doyle
     :summary: Short version for index and feeds
 
+Author and tag lists may be semicolon-separated instead, which allows
+you to write authors and tags containing commas::
+
+    :tags: pelican, publishing tool; pelican, bird
+    :authors: Metaireau, Alexis; Doyle, Conan
+
 Pelican implements an extension to reStructuredText to enable support for the
 ``abbr`` HTML tag. To use it, write something like this in your post::
 
diff --git a/pelican/readers.py b/pelican/readers.py
index 3656cd96..bbc72a73 100644
--- a/pelican/readers.py
+++ b/pelican/readers.py
@@ -27,11 +27,25 @@ from pelican import signals
 from pelican.contents import Page, Category, Tag, Author
 from pelican.utils import get_date, pelican_open, FileStampDataCacher, SafeDatetime, posixize_path
 
+def ensure_metadata_list(text):
+    """Canonicalize the format of a list of authors or tags.  This works
+       the same way as Docutils' "authors" field: if it's already a list,
+       those boundaries are preserved; otherwise, it must be a string;
+       if the string contains semicolons, it is split on semicolons;
+       otherwise, it is split on commas.  This allows you to write
+       author lists in either "Jane Doe, John Doe" or "Doe, Jane; Doe, John"
+       format.
 
-def strip_split(text, sep=','):
-    """Return a list of stripped, non-empty substrings, delimited by sep."""
-    items = [x.strip() for x in text.split(sep)]
-    return [x for x in items if x]
+       Regardless, all list items undergo .strip() before returning, and
+       empty items are discarded.
+    """
+    if isinstance(text, six.text_type):
+        if ';' in text:
+            text = text.split(';')
+        else:
+            text = text.split(',')
+
+    return [v for v in (w.strip() for w in text) if v]
 
 
 # Metadata processors have no way to discard an unwanted value, so we have
@@ -50,13 +64,16 @@ def _process_if_nonempty(processor, name, settings):
 
 
 METADATA_PROCESSORS = {
-    'tags': lambda x, y: [Tag(tag, y) for tag in strip_split(x)] or _DISCARD,
+    'tags': lambda x, y: ([Tag(tag, y) for tag in ensure_metadata_list(x)]
+                          or _DISCARD),
     'date': lambda x, y: get_date(x.replace('_', ' ')),
     'modified': lambda x, y: get_date(x),
     'status': lambda x, y: x.strip() or _DISCARD,
     'category': lambda x, y: _process_if_nonempty(Category, x, y),
     'author': lambda x, y: _process_if_nonempty(Author, x, y),
-    'authors': lambda x, y: [Author(a, y) for a in strip_split(x)] or _DISCARD,
+    'authors': lambda x, y: ([Author(author, y)
+                              for author in ensure_metadata_list(x)]
+                             or _DISCARD),
     'slug': lambda x, y: x.strip() or _DISCARD,
 }
 
@@ -179,7 +196,6 @@ class RstReader(BaseReader):
                 elif element.tagname == 'authors':  # author list
                     name = element.tagname
                     value = [element.astext() for element in element.children]
-                    value = ','.join(value) # METADATA_PROCESSORS expects a string
                 else:  # standard fields (e.g. address)
                     name = element.tagname
                     value = element.astext()
diff --git a/pelican/tests/content/article_with_multiple_authors_list.rst b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_multiple_authors_list.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7da5fae2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_multiple_authors_list.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+This is an article with multiple authors in list format!
+########################################################
+
+:date: 2014-02-09 02:20
+:modified: 2014-02-09 02:20
+:authors: - Author, First
+          - Author, Second
+
+The author names are in last,first form to verify that
+they are not just getting split on commas.
diff --git a/pelican/tests/content/article_with_multiple_authors_semicolon.rst b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_multiple_authors_semicolon.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fa76ac4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pelican/tests/content/article_with_multiple_authors_semicolon.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+This is an article with multiple authors in lastname, firstname format!
+#######################################################################
+
+:date: 2014-02-09 02:20
+:modified: 2014-02-09 02:20
+:authors: Author, First; Author, Second
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
index 4fb70826..90261b7a 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ class TestArticlesGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
              'article'],
             ['This is an article with multiple authors!', 'published', 'Default', 'article'],
             ['This is an article with multiple authors!', 'published', 'Default', 'article'],
+            ['This is an article with multiple authors in list format!', 'published', 'Default', 'article'],
+            ['This is an article with multiple authors in lastname, firstname format!', 'published', 'Default', 'article'],
             ['This is an article without category !', 'published', 'Default',
              'article'],
             ['This is an article without category !', 'published',
@@ -348,11 +350,11 @@ class TestArticlesGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_generate_authors(self):
         """Check authors generation."""
         authors = [author.name for author, _ in self.generator.authors]
-        authors_expected = sorted(['Alexis Métaireau', 'First Author', 'Second Author'])
+        authors_expected = sorted(['Alexis Métaireau', 'Author, First', 'Author, Second', 'First Author', 'Second Author'])
         self.assertEqual(sorted(authors), authors_expected)
         # test for slug
         authors = [author.slug for author, _ in self.generator.authors]
-        authors_expected = ['alexis-metaireau', 'first-author', 'second-author']
+        authors_expected = ['alexis-metaireau', 'author-first', 'author-second', 'first-author', 'second-author']
         self.assertEqual(sorted(authors), sorted(authors_expected))
 
     @unittest.skipUnless(MagicMock, 'Needs Mock module')
@@ -441,6 +443,7 @@ class TestArticlesGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
 
         authors = sorted([author.name for author, _ in generator.authors])
         authors_expected = sorted(['Alexis Métaireau', 'Blogger',
+                                   'Author, First', 'Author, Second',
                                    'First Author', 'Second Author'])
         self.assertEqual(authors, authors_expected)
 
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_readers.py b/pelican/tests/test_readers.py
index d390fb48..18e5111e 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_readers.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_readers.py
@@ -324,6 +324,23 @@ class RstReaderTest(ReaderTest):
 
         self.assertDictHasSubset(page.metadata, expected)
 
+    def test_article_with_multiple_authors_semicolon(self):
+        page = self.read_file(
+            path='article_with_multiple_authors_semicolon.rst')
+        expected = {
+            'authors': ['Author, First', 'Author, Second']
+        }
+
+        self.assertDictHasSubset(page.metadata, expected)
+
+    def test_article_with_multiple_authors_list(self):
+        page = self.read_file(path='article_with_multiple_authors_list.rst')
+        expected = {
+            'authors': ['Author, First', 'Author, Second']
+        }
+
+        self.assertDictHasSubset(page.metadata, expected)
+
 @unittest.skipUnless(readers.Markdown, "markdown isn't installed")
 class MdReaderTest(ReaderTest):