diff --git a/photojawn/generate.py b/photojawn/generate.py
index 5d721e2..1cd1c9d 100644
--- a/photojawn/generate.py
+++ b/photojawn/generate.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ from typing import Iterator, Optional
 from jinja2 import Environment, FileSystemLoader, select_autoescape
 from PIL import Image, UnidentifiedImageError
 from rich.progress import Progress, track
+from markdown import markdown
 
 from photojawn.config import Config
 
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ class ImageDirectory:
     children: list["ImageDirectory"]
     images: list["ImagePath"]
     is_root: bool = False
+    description: str = ""
 
     cover_path: Optional["ImagePath"] = None
 
@@ -105,7 +107,11 @@ def find_images(root_path: Path) -> ImageDirectory:
 
         for filename in sorted(filenames):
             file_path = dirpath / filename
-            if is_image(file_path):
+            if filename == "description.txt":
+                image_dir.description = file_path.read_text()
+            elif filename == "description.md":
+                image_dir.description = markdown(file_path.read_text())
+            elif is_image(file_path):
                 ip = ImagePath(file_path)
 
                 # Set a cover image for the album. Use "cover.jpg" if one exists,
@@ -154,7 +160,9 @@ def generate_thumbnails(config: Config, root_dir: ImageDirectory) -> None:
             thumb_img = orig_img.copy()
             thumb_img.thumbnail(config.thumbnail_size)
             thumb_img.save(thumb_path)
-            logger.info(f'Generated thumbnail size "{image_path.path}" -> "{thumb_path}"')
+            logger.info(
+                f'Generated thumbnail size "{image_path.path}" -> "{thumb_path}"'
+            )
 
         screen_path = image_path.display_path()
         if not screen_path.exists() or not config.quick:
diff --git a/photojawn/skel/_templates/album.html b/photojawn/skel/_templates/album.html
index 618b23e..5dfcf91 100644
--- a/photojawn/skel/_templates/album.html
+++ b/photojawn/skel/_templates/album.html
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
     {% if not album_dir.is_root %}
     <h1>{{album_dir.path.name}}</h1>
     {% endif %}
+
+    {% if album_dir.description %}
+    {{ album_dir.description | safe }}
+    {% endif %}
+
     {% if album_dir.children %}
         <div id="album-children">
             {% for child in album_dir.children %}
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 1881b65..1078622 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -103,6 +103,21 @@ MarkupSafe = ">=2.0"
 [package.extras]
 i18n = ["Babel (>=2.7)"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "markdown"
+version = "3.6"
+description = "Python implementation of John Gruber's Markdown."
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.8"
+files = [
+    {file = "Markdown-3.6-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:48f276f4d8cfb8ce6527c8f79e2ee29708508bf4d40aa410fbc3b4ee832c850f"},
+    {file = "Markdown-3.6.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:ed4f41f6daecbeeb96e576ce414c41d2d876daa9a16cb35fa8ed8c2ddfad0224"},
+]
+
+[package.extras]
+docs = ["mdx-gh-links (>=0.2)", "mkdocs (>=1.5)", "mkdocs-gen-files", "mkdocs-literate-nav", "mkdocs-nature (>=0.6)", "mkdocs-section-index", "mkdocstrings[python]"]
+testing = ["coverage", "pyyaml"]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "markdown-it-py"
 version = "3.0.0"
@@ -565,4 +580,4 @@ files = [
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = "^3.12"
-content-hash = "773580221534dd8152d5385b517f068c9a92fc905eaf7fe0356a97daaa0b7f96"
+content-hash = "84f4661f5720da5427ac7bcd4e50674ca6017413fdada09d6bd7ea9b8f650818"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 035b3e4..76278bc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ jinja2 = "^3.1.4"
 pillow = "^10.4.0"
 rich = "^13.7.1"
 pyyaml = "^6.0.1"
+markdown = "^3.6"
 
 [tool.poetry.group.dev.dependencies]
 pytest = "*"