diff --git a/gitea/gitea.py b/gitea/gitea.py
index ee91aa6..6226893 100644
--- a/gitea/gitea.py
+++ b/gitea/gitea.py
@@ -543,8 +543,8 @@ class Commit(GiteaApiObject):
         super(Commit, self).__init__(gitea)
 
     fields_to_parsers = {
-        # NOTE: do not try to parse gitea-users from git-committers/authors, as
-        # they are not necessarily users of gitea as well
+        # NOTE: api may return None for commiters that are no gitea users
+        {"author": lambda gitea, u: User.parse_response(gitea, u) if u else None}
     }
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 47cd823..5cdecd0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ with open('README.md') as readme_file:
 
 setup_args = dict(
     name='py-gitea',
-    version='0.1.6',
+    version='0.1.7',
     description='A python wrapper for the Gitea API',
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
     long_description=README,