diff --git a/tablib/formats/_html.py b/tablib/formats/_html.py
index 19c8081..c516e31 100644
--- a/tablib/formats/_html.py
+++ b/tablib/formats/_html.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ else:
     from tablib.packages import markup
 
 import tablib
+import codecs
 
 BOOK_ENDINGS = 'h3'
 
@@ -45,7 +46,9 @@ def export_set(dataset):
 
 	page.table.close()
 
-	stream.writelines(str(page))
+    # Allow unicode characters in output
+	wrapper = codecs.getwriter("utf8")(stream)
+	wrapper.writelines(unicode(page))
 
 	return stream.getvalue()
 
diff --git a/tablib/packages/markup.py b/tablib/packages/markup.py
index 234f116..0198899 100644
--- a/tablib/packages/markup.py
+++ b/tablib/packages/markup.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class element:
     def render( self, tag, single, between, kwargs ):
         """Append the actual tags to content."""
 
-        out = "<%s" % tag
+        out = u"<%s" % tag
         for key, value in kwargs.iteritems( ):
             if value is not None:               # when value is None that means stuff like <... checked>
                 key = key.strip('_')            # strip this so class_ will mean class, etc.
@@ -75,16 +75,16 @@ class element:
                     key = 'http-equiv'
                 elif key == 'accept_charset':
                     key = 'accept-charset'
-                out = "%s %s=\"%s\"" % ( out, key, escape( value ) )
+                out = u"%s %s=\"%s\"" % ( out, key, escape( value ) )
             else:
-                out = "%s %s" % ( out, key )
+                out = u"%s %s" % ( out, key )
         if between is not None:
-            out = "%s>%s</%s>" % ( out, between, tag )
+            out = u"%s>%s</%s>" % ( out, between, tag )
         else:
             if single:
-                out = "%s />" % out
+                out = u"%s />" % out
             else:
-                out = "%s>" % out
+                out = u"%s>" % out
         if self.parent is not None:
             self.parent.content.append( out )
         else:
diff --git a/test_tablib.py b/test_tablib.py
index 70e6051..4b4ad93 100755
--- a/test_tablib.py
+++ b/test_tablib.py
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ class TablibTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_unicode_append(self):
         """Passes in a single unicode character and exports."""
 
-        new_row = ('å', 'é')
+        new_row = (u'å', u'é')
         data.append(new_row)
 
         data.json