Index: django/contrib/markup/templatetags/markup.py
===================================================================
--- django/contrib/markup/templatetags/markup.py	(revision 11439)
+++ django/contrib/markup/templatetags/markup.py	(working copy)
@@ -76,7 +76,11 @@
             return mark_safe(force_unicode(markdown.markdown(smart_str(value))))
 markdown.is_safe = True
 
-def restructuredtext(value):
+def restructuredtext(value, arg='html4css1'):
+    """
+    Optionally pass the name of a module containing a Writer class as an argument. 
+    It will default to html4css1. See Docutils Hacker's Guide for documentation on Writers.
+    """
     try:
         from docutils.core import publish_parts
     except ImportError:
@@ -85,7 +89,7 @@
         return force_unicode(value)
     else:
         docutils_settings = getattr(settings, "RESTRUCTUREDTEXT_FILTER_SETTINGS", {})
-        parts = publish_parts(source=smart_str(value), writer_name="html4css1", settings_overrides=docutils_settings)
+        parts = publish_parts(source=smart_str(value), writer_name=arg, settings_overrides=docutils_settings)
         return mark_safe(force_unicode(parts["fragment"]))
 restructuredtext.is_safe = True