diff --git a/src/rebar_templater.erl b/src/rebar_templater.erl
index f74b12f9..7266f44e 100644
--- a/src/rebar_templater.erl
+++ b/src/rebar_templater.erl
@@ -431,8 +431,11 @@ write_file(Output, Data, Force) ->
             {error, exists}
     end.
 
-%%
 %% Render a binary to a string, using mustache and the specified context
-%%
 render(Bin, Context) ->
-    bbmustache:render(rebar_utils:to_binary(Bin), Context, [{key_type, atom}]).
+    bbmustache:render(
+      rebar_utils:to_binary(Bin),
+      Context,
+      [{key_type, atom},
+       {escape_fun, fun(X) -> X end}] % disable HTML-style escaping
+    ).
diff --git a/test/rebar_new_SUITE.erl b/test/rebar_new_SUITE.erl
index 1971be68..3c8ff982 100644
--- a/test/rebar_new_SUITE.erl
+++ b/test/rebar_new_SUITE.erl
@@ -56,12 +56,12 @@ app_git_user(Config) ->
     Name = ?config(name, Config),
     rebar_test_utils:run_and_check(
         Config, [],
-        ["new", "test_app", Name, "author_name=some_name"],
+        ["new", "test_app", Name, "author_name=<some_name>"],
         {ok, []}
     ),
     validate_files(
         Config, Name,
-        [{"LICENSE", ["some_name", "git@email.com"]},
+        [{"LICENSE", ["<some_name>", "git@email.com"]},
          {"README.md", [Name]},
          {".gitignore", []},
          {"rebar.config", []},