diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/src/spec/create_extension_spec.py b/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/src/spec/create_extension_spec.py
index cbecf2b..c9f25ff 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/src/spec/create_extension_spec.py	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/src/spec/create_extension_spec.py	
@@ -10,11 +10,15 @@
 def main():
     # these arguments were auto-generated from your cookiecutter inputs
     ns_builder = NWBNamespaceBuilder(
-        doc="""{{ cookiecutter.description }}""",
         name="""{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}""",
         version="""{{ cookiecutter.version }}""",
-        author=list(map(str.strip, """{{ cookiecutter.author }}""".split(","))),
-        contact=list(map(str.strip, """{{ cookiecutter.email }}""".split(","))),
+        doc="""{{ cookiecutter.description }}""",
+        author=[{% for name in cookiecutter.author.split(',') %}
+            "{{ name.strip() }}", {% endfor %}
+        ],
+        contact=[{% for email in cookiecutter.email.split(',') %}
+            "{{ email.strip() }}", {% endfor %}
+        ],
     )
 
     # TODO: specify either the neurodata types that are used by the extension