diff --git a/hgettext.cabal b/hgettext.cabal
--- a/hgettext.cabal
+++ b/hgettext.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                   hgettext
-Version:                0.1.8
+Version:                0.1.9
 Cabal-Version:          >= 1.6
 
 License:                BSD3
diff --git a/src/hgettext.hs b/src/hgettext.hs
--- a/src/hgettext.hs
+++ b/src/hgettext.hs
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 import Distribution.Simple.PreProcess.Unlit
 
 import Data.List
+import Data.Char
+import System.FilePath
 
 data Options = Options {
       outputFile :: String,
@@ -78,12 +80,13 @@
 process opts fl = do
   t <- mapM read' fl
   writeFile (outputFile opts) $ writePOTFile $ map (\(n,c) -> formatMessages n $ toTranslate (keyword opts) $ parseModule c) t
-    where read' "-" = do 
-                    s <- getContents
-                    return ("-", either id (\_ -> "") (unlit "-" s))
+    where read' "-" = getContents >>= \c -> return ("-", c)
           read' s = do 
                     c <- readFile s
-                    return (s, either id (\_ -> "") (unlit s c))
+                    -- test for literate haskell file
+                    if map toLower (takeExtension s) == ".lhs" 
+                       then return (s, either id (\_ -> "") (unlit s c))
+                       else return (s, c)
 
 main = 
     getArgs >>= parseArgs >>= uncurry process