--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -150,6 +150,36 @@
     [git]
     intree = True
 
+git.authors
+-----------
+
+Git uses a strict convention for "author names" when representing changesets,
+using the form `[realname] [email address]`.   Mercurial encourages this
+convention as well but is not as strict, so it's not uncommon for a Mercurial
+repo to have authors listed as simple usernames.   hg-git by default will 
+translate such names using the email address `none@none`, which then shows up
+unpleasantly on GitHub as "illegal email address".
+
+The `git.authors` option provides for an "authors translation file" that will 
+be used during outgoing transfers from mercurial to git only, by modifying 
+`hgrc` as such:
+
+    [git]
+    authors = authors.txt
+
+Where `authors.txt` is the name of a text file containing author name translations,
+one per each line, using the following format:
+
+    johnny = John Smith <jsmith@foo.com>
+    dougie = Doug Johnson <dougiej@bar.com>
+
+Empty lines and lines starting with a "#" are ignored.
+
+It should be noted that **this translation is on the hg->git side only**.  Changesets
+coming from Git back to Mercurial will not translate back into hg usernames, so
+it's best that the same username/email combination be used on both the hg and git sides;
+the author file is mostly useful for translating legacy changesets.
+
 git.branch_bookmark_suffix
 ---------------------------
 

--- a/hggit/git_handler.py
+++ b/hggit/git_handler.py
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@
         else:
             self.gitdir = self.repo.join('git')
 
+        self.init_author_file()
+
         self.paths = ui.configitems('paths')
 
         self.branch_bookmark_suffix = ui.config('git', 'branch_bookmark_suffix')
@@ -95,6 +97,19 @@
             os.mkdir(self.gitdir)
             self.git = Repo.init_bare(self.gitdir)
 
+    def init_author_file(self):
+        self.author_map = {}
+        if self.ui.config('git', 'authors'):
+            with open(self.repo.wjoin(
+                self.ui.config('git', 'authors')
+            )) as f:
+                for line in f:
+                    line = line.strip()
+                    if not line or line.startswith('#'):
+                        continue
+                    from_, to = re.split(r'\s*=\s*', line, 2)
+                    self.author_map[from_] = to
+
     ## FILE LOAD AND SAVE METHODS
 
     def map_set(self, gitsha, hgsha):
@@ -401,6 +416,10 @@
         # hg authors might not have emails
         author = ctx.user()
 
+        # see if a translation exists
+        if author in self.author_map:
+            author = self.author_map[author]
+
         # check for git author pattern compliance
         regex = re.compile('^(.*?) ?\<(.*?)(?:\>(.*))?$')
         a = regex.match(author)