diff --git a/src/cargo/ops/cargo_new.rs b/src/cargo/ops/cargo_new.rs
index 217823c2b..3f032b4fa 100644
--- a/src/cargo/ops/cargo_new.rs
+++ b/src/cargo/ops/cargo_new.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ use term::color::BLACK;
 use util::{GitRepo, HgRepo, CargoResult, human, ChainError, internal};
 use util::Config;
 
+use toml;
+
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, PartialEq)]
 pub enum VersionControl { Git, Hg, NoVcs }
 
@@ -149,8 +151,8 @@ fn mk(config: &Config, path: &Path, name: &str,
 r#"[package]
 name = "{}"
 version = "0.1.0"
-authors = ["{}"]
-"#, name, author).as_bytes()));
+authors = [{}]
+"#, name, toml::Value::String(author)).as_bytes()));
 
     try!(fs::create_dir(&path.join("src")));
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cargo_new.rs b/tests/test_cargo_new.rs
index 6a7b82c77..c315afb2f 100644
--- a/tests/test_cargo_new.rs
+++ b/tests/test_cargo_new.rs
@@ -138,6 +138,20 @@ test!(finds_author_user {
     assert!(contents.contains(r#"authors = ["foo"]"#));
 });
 
+test!(finds_author_user_escaped {
+    // Use a temp dir to make sure we don't pick up .cargo/config somewhere in
+    // the hierarchy
+    let td = TempDir::new("cargo").unwrap();
+    assert_that(cargo_process("new").arg("foo").env("USER", "foo \"bar\"")
+                                    .cwd(td.path().clone()),
+                execs().with_status(0));
+
+    let toml = td.path().join("foo/Cargo.toml");
+    let mut contents = String::new();
+    File::open(&toml).unwrap().read_to_string(&mut contents).unwrap();
+    assert!(contents.contains(r#"authors = ["foo \"bar\""]"#));
+});
+
 test!(finds_author_username {
     // Use a temp dir to make sure we don't pick up .cargo/config somewhere in
     // the hierarchy