diff --git a/quarto/__init__.py b/quarto/__init__.py
index 4fb9a69..0a738e1 100644
--- a/quarto/__init__.py
+++ b/quarto/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 from quarto.quarto import path
 from quarto.render import render
-from quarto.metadata import metadata
+from quarto.metadata import metadata, write_yaml_metadata_block
 from quarto.theme import theme_colors_altair, theme_brand_altair, \
     theme_colors_bokeh, theme_brand_bokeh, \
     theme_colors_great_tables, theme_brand_great_tables, \
diff --git a/quarto/metadata.py b/quarto/metadata.py
index 8477d5c..2654af8 100644
--- a/quarto/metadata.py
+++ b/quarto/metadata.py
@@ -4,10 +4,19 @@
 import subprocess
 
 from quarto.quarto import find_quarto
+from quarto.utils import as_yaml_block
 
 def metadata(input):
   args = ["metadata", input, "--json"]
   metadata_json = subprocess.check_output([find_quarto()] + args)
   return json.loads(metadata_json)
 
- 
+def write_yaml_metadata_block(_list=None, **kwargs):
+  """Write YAML metadata block that will be parsed by Quarto."""
+  meta = kwargs
+  if _list is not None:
+    meta = {**_list, **kwargs}
+  if len(meta) == 0:
+    return
+  yaml_block = as_yaml_block(meta)
+  print(yaml_block)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/quarto/utils.py b/quarto/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..330a69e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quarto/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import yaml
+
+def as_yaml(x):
+  return yaml.dump(
+    x,
+    default_flow_style=False,
+    allow_unicode=True,
+    sort_keys=False
+  )
+
+
+def as_yaml_block(x):
+  yaml_content = as_yaml(x)
+  return f"---\n{yaml_content}---\n"
+
+