diff --git a/BlogLiterately.cabal b/BlogLiterately.cabal
--- a/BlogLiterately.cabal
+++ b/BlogLiterately.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           BlogLiterately
-Version:        0.8.2.3
+Version:        0.8.3
 Synopsis:       A tool for posting Haskelly articles to blogs
 Description:    Write blog posts in Markdown format, then use BlogLiterately
                 to do syntax highlighting, format ghci sessions, and upload
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 License:        GPL
 License-file:   LICENSE
 Category:       Web
-Copyright:      Copyright (c) Robert Greayer 2008-2010, Brent Yorgey 2012-2013
+Copyright:      Copyright (c) Robert Greayer 2008-2010, Brent Yorgey 2012-2016
 Author:         Robert Greayer <robgreayer@yahoo.com>, Brent Yorgey
 Maintainer:     Brent Yorgey <byorgey@gmail.com>
 Stability:      experimental
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+0.8.3 (25 May 2016)
+-------------------
+
+  * Add `--[no-]lit-haskell` flags, to enable/disable processing of
+    markdown files as literate Haskell. See
+    [#29](https://github.com/byorgey/BlogLiterately/issues/29).
+
 0.8.2.3 (9 May 2016)
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/BlogLiteratelyDoc.lhs b/doc/BlogLiteratelyDoc.lhs
--- a/doc/BlogLiteratelyDoc.lhs
+++ b/doc/BlogLiteratelyDoc.lhs
@@ -73,6 +73,14 @@
 [supports a few extensions](http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/README.html#pandocs-markdown)
 to the basic format.
 
+By default, `BlogLiterately` assumes that markdown files should be
+parsed as if they contain literate Haskell code.  To disable
+processing of markdown files with literate Haskell extensions, use the
+`--no-lit-haskell` command-line argument.  This makes a difference,
+for example, when processing paragraphs set off by "bird tracks"
+(*i.e.* leading `>` characters): in literate Haskell, these are code
+blocks, whereas in plain markdown they are blockquotes.
+
 Determining input format
 ------------------------
 
diff --git a/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options.hs b/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options.hs
--- a/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options.hs
+++ b/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options.hs
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
     , style
     , hsHighlight
     , otherHighlight
+    , litHaskell
     , toc
     , wplatex
     , math
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@
     , style'
     , hsHighlight'
     , otherHighlight'
+    , litHaskell'
     , toc'
     , wplatex'
     , math'
@@ -89,6 +91,7 @@
   , _hsHighlight    :: Maybe HsHighlight   -- ^ Haskell highlighting mode
   , _otherHighlight :: Maybe Bool          -- ^ Use highlighting-kate for
                                            --   non-Haskell?
+  , _litHaskell     :: Maybe Bool          -- ^ Parse as literate Haskell?
   , _toc            :: Maybe Bool          -- ^ Generate a table of contents?
   , _wplatex        :: Maybe Bool          -- ^ Format LaTeX for WordPress?
   , _math           :: Maybe String        -- ^ Indicate how to format math
@@ -133,6 +136,7 @@
     { _style          = Nothing
     , _hsHighlight    = Nothing
     , _otherHighlight = Nothing
+    , _litHaskell     = Nothing
     , _toc            = Nothing
     , _wplatex        = Nothing
     , _math           = Nothing
@@ -161,6 +165,7 @@
     { _style          = combine _style
     , _hsHighlight    = combine _hsHighlight
     , _otherHighlight = combine _otherHighlight
+    , _litHaskell     = combine _litHaskell
     , _toc            = combine _toc
     , _wplatex        = combine _wplatex
     , _math           = combine _math
@@ -202,6 +207,9 @@
 otherHighlight' :: BlogLiterately -> Bool
 otherHighlight' = fromMaybe True  . view otherHighlight
 
+litHaskell' :: BlogLiterately -> Bool
+litHaskell' = fromMaybe True . view litHaskell
+
 toc' :: BlogLiterately -> Bool
 toc'            = fromMaybe False . view toc
 
@@ -292,18 +300,28 @@
        ]
      , _toc = enum
        [ Nothing
-         &= explicit
          &= name "no-toc"
          &= help "don't generate a table of contents (default)"
-       , Just True
          &= explicit
+       , Just True
          &= name "toc"
          &= help "generate a table of contents"
+         &= explicit
        ]
      , _wplatex = def &= help "reformat inline LaTeX the way WordPress expects"
                   &= name "wplatex" &= name "w" &= explicit
      , _math    = def &= help "how to layout math, where --math=<pandoc-option>[=URL]"
                   &= name "math" &= name "m" &= explicit
+     , _litHaskell = enum
+        [ Nothing
+          &= help "parse as literate Haskell (default)"
+          &= name "lit-haskell"
+          &= explicit
+        , Just False
+          &= help "do not parse as literate Haskell"
+          &= name "no-lit-haskell"
+          &= explicit
+        ]
      , _ghci    = def &= help "run [ghci] blocks through ghci and include output"
                   &= name "ghci" &= name "g" &= explicit
      , _uploadImages = def &= name "upload-images" &= name "I" &= explicit &= help "upload local images"
diff --git a/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options/Parse.hs b/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options/Parse.hs
--- a/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options/Parse.hs
+++ b/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Options/Parse.hs
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
   <|> parseField toc          "toc"           parseBool
   <|> parseField wplatex      "wplatex"       parseBool
   <|> parseField math         "math"          parseStr
+  <|> parseField litHaskell   "lit-haskell"   parseBool
   <|> parseField ghci         "ghci"          parseBool
   <|> parseField uploadImages "upload-images" parseBool
   <|> parseField categories   "categories"    parseStrList
diff --git a/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Transform.hs b/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Transform.hs
--- a/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Transform.hs
+++ b/src/Text/BlogLiterately/Transform.hs
@@ -501,8 +501,11 @@
             _       -> readMarkdown opts
 
     parseOpts = def
-                { readerExtensions = Ext_literate_haskell
-                                     `S.insert` readerExtensions def
+                { readerExtensions =
+                    case bl^.litHaskell of
+                      Just False -> readerExtensions def
+                      _          -> S.insert Ext_literate_haskell
+                                    (readerExtensions def)
                 , readerSmart      = True
                 }
     writeOpts bl = def