diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 926b6d2..b6062e8 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # plume (development version)
 
+* `PlumeQuarto` now properly handles authors with no roles (#81).
+
 * `PlumeQuarto` now supports `.yml` and `.yaml` files (#82).
 
 # plume 0.2.4
diff --git a/R/plume-quarto.R b/R/plume-quarto.R
index d4dbb2a..ae5bb44 100644
--- a/R/plume-quarto.R
+++ b/R/plume-quarto.R
@@ -157,12 +157,12 @@ PlumeQuarto <- R6Class(
       if (!private$has_col(col)) {
         return()
       }
-      out <- unnest_drop(private$plume, cols = all_of(col))
-      out <- summarise(
-        out,
-        `_` = list(tolower(.data[[col]])),
-        .by = all_of(private$id)
-      )
+      out <- unnest(private$plume, cols = all_of(col))
+      out <- summarise(out, `_` = if_not_na(
+        .data[[col]],
+        as_role_list(.data[[col]]),
+        all = TRUE
+      ), .by = all_of(private$id))
       out[["_"]]
     },
 
@@ -243,6 +243,10 @@ PlumeQuarto <- R6Class(
   )
 )
 
+as_role_list <- function(x) {
+  list(tolower(vec_drop_na(x)))
+}
+
 affiliation_keys <- c(
   "number", "name", "department", "address", "city", "region", "state",
   "country", "postal-code", "url", "isni", "ringgold", "ror"
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/to-yaml.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/to-yaml.md
index deb4f8c..3f5ebde 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/to-yaml.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/to-yaml.md
@@ -231,6 +231,26 @@
             given: Zip
             family: Zap
 
+# to_yaml() properly handles authors with no roles (#81)
+
+    Code
+      read_test_file(tmp_file)
+    Output
+      title: foo
+      author:
+        - id: aut1
+          name:
+            given: A
+            family: A
+          roles:
+            - formal analysis
+            - writing - original draft
+        - id: aut2
+          name:
+            given: B
+            family: B
+          roles: {}
+
 # to_yaml() errors if no YAML headers is found
 
     Code
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-to-yaml.R b/tests/testthat/test-to-yaml.R
index 1cdb14d..d04f13b 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-to-yaml.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-to-yaml.R
@@ -128,6 +128,26 @@ test_that("to_yaml() can push data into YAML files", {
   expect_snapshot(read_test_file(tmp_file))
 })
 
+test_that("to_yaml() properly handles authors with no roles (#81)", {
+  tmp_file <- withr::local_tempfile(
+    lines = "title: foo",
+    fileext = ".yaml"
+  )
+
+  aut <- PlumeQuarto$new(
+    data.frame(
+      given_name = c("A", "B"),
+      family_name = c("A", "B"),
+      writing = c(1, NA),
+      analysis = c(1, NA)
+    ),
+    tmp_file
+  )
+  aut$to_yaml()
+
+  expect_snapshot(read_test_file(tmp_file))
+})
+
 # Errors ----
 
 test_that("to_yaml() errors if no YAML headers is found", {