diff --git a/datasette/database.py b/datasette/database.py
index 468e9360..350c4e9c 100644
--- a/datasette/database.py
+++ b/datasette/database.py
@@ -94,10 +94,14 @@ class Database:
             f"file:{self.path}{qs}", uri=True, check_same_thread=False
         )
 
-    async def execute_write(self, sql, params=None, block=False):
+    async def execute_write(self, sql, params=None, executescript=False, block=False):
+        assert not (executescript and params), "Cannot use params with executescript=True"
         def _inner(conn):
             with conn:
-                return conn.execute(sql, params or [])
+                if executescript:
+                    return conn.executescript(sql)
+                else:
+                    return conn.execute(sql, params or [])
 
         with trace("sql", database=self.name, sql=sql.strip(), params=params):
             results = await self.execute_write_fn(_inner, block=block)
diff --git a/docs/internals.rst b/docs/internals.rst
index 8788b26a..d40e679b 100644
--- a/docs/internals.rst
+++ b/docs/internals.rst
@@ -663,8 +663,8 @@ Example usage:
 
 .. _database_execute_write:
 
-await db.execute_write(sql, params=None, block=False)
------------------------------------------------------
+await db.execute_write(sql, params=None, executescript=False, block=False)
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 SQLite only allows one database connection to write at a time. Datasette handles this for you by maintaining a queue of writes to be executed against a given database. Plugins can submit write operations to this queue and they will be executed in the order in which they are received.
 
@@ -676,6 +676,8 @@ By default queries are considered to be "fire and forget" - they will be added t
 
 If you pass ``block=True`` this behaviour changes: the method will block until the write operation has completed, and the return value will be the return from calling ``conn.execute(...)`` using the underlying ``sqlite3`` Python library.
 
+If you pass ``executescript=True`` your SQL will be executed using the ``sqlite3`` `conn.executescript() <https://docs.python.org/3/library/sqlite3.html#sqlite3.Cursor.executescript>`__ method. This allows multiple SQL statements to be separated by semicolons, but cannot be used with the ``params=`` option.
+
 .. _database_execute_write_fn:
 
 await db.execute_write_fn(fn, block=False)
diff --git a/tests/test_internals_database.py b/tests/test_internals_database.py
index 609caabf..0a5c01a3 100644
--- a/tests/test_internals_database.py
+++ b/tests/test_internals_database.py
@@ -396,6 +396,27 @@ async def test_execute_write_block_false(db):
     assert "Mystery!" == rows.rows[0][0]
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_execute_write_executescript(db):
+    await db.execute_write(
+        "create table foo (id integer primary key); create table bar (id integer primary key); ",
+        executescript=True,
+        block=True
+    )
+    table_names = await db.table_names()
+    assert {"foo", "bar"}.issubset(table_names)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_execute_write_executescript_not_allowed_with_params(db):
+    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+        await db.execute_write(
+            "update roadside_attractions set name = ? where pk = ?",
+            ["Mystery!", 1],
+            executescript=True
+        )
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_execute_write_has_correctly_prepared_connection(db):
     # The sleep() function is only available if ds._prepare_connection() was called