diff --git a/lib/pythonx.ex b/lib/pythonx.ex
index cfd981d..a4c82e8 100644
--- a/lib/pythonx.ex
+++ b/lib/pythonx.ex
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ defmodule Pythonx do
 
   alias Pythonx.Object
 
+  @type encoder :: (term(), encoder() -> Object.t())
+
   @doc """
   Initializes the Python interpreter.
 
@@ -202,7 +204,7 @@ defmodule Pythonx do
           raise ArgumentError, "expected globals keys to be strings, got: #{inspect(key)}"
         end
 
-        {key, Pythonx.Encoder.encode(value)}
+        {key, encode!(value)}
       end
 
     code_md5 = :erlang.md5(code)
@@ -299,9 +301,9 @@ defmodule Pythonx do
       >
 
   """
-  @spec encode!(term()) :: Object.t()
-  def encode!(term) do
-    Pythonx.Encoder.encode(term)
+  @spec encode!(term(), encoder()) :: Object.t()
+  def encode!(term, encoder \\ &Pythonx.Encoder.encode/2) do
+    encoder.(term, encoder)
   end
 
   @doc """
diff --git a/lib/pythonx/encoder.ex b/lib/pythonx/encoder.ex
index fae98fc..2ec44bc 100644
--- a/lib/pythonx/encoder.ex
+++ b/lib/pythonx/encoder.ex
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ defprotocol Pythonx.Encoder do
   The protocol implementation could look like this:
 
       defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Complex do
-        def encode(complex) do
+        def encode(complex, _encoder) do
           {result, %{}} =
             Pythonx.eval(
               """
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ defprotocol Pythonx.Encoder do
   example, here is one possible implementation for `Explorer.DataFrame`:
 
       defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Explorer.DataFrame do
-        def encode(df) do
+        def encode(df, _encoder) do
           {result, %{}} =
             Pythonx.eval(
               """
@@ -73,30 +73,30 @@ defprotocol Pythonx.Encoder do
   @doc """
   A function invoked to encode the given term to `Pythonx.Object`.
   """
-  @spec encode(term :: term()) :: Pythonx.Object.t()
-  def encode(term)
+  @spec encode(term :: term(), Pythonx.encoder()) :: Pythonx.Object.t()
+  def encode(term, encoder)
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Pythonx.Object do
-  def encode(object) do
+  def encode(object, _encoder) do
     object
   end
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Atom do
-  def encode(nil) do
+  def encode(nil, _encoder) do
     Pythonx.NIF.none_new()
   end
 
-  def encode(false) do
+  def encode(false, _encoder) do
     Pythonx.NIF.false_new()
   end
 
-  def encode(true) do
+  def encode(true, _encoder) do
     Pythonx.NIF.true_new()
   end
 
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, _encoder) do
     term
     |> Atom.to_string()
     |> Pythonx.NIF.unicode_from_string()
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Atom do
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Float do
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, _encoder) do
     Pythonx.NIF.float_new(term)
   end
 end
@@ -113,11 +113,11 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Integer do
   @max_int64 2 ** 63 - 1
   @min_int64 Kernel.-(2 ** 63)
 
-  def encode(term) when @min_int64 <= term and term <= @max_int64 do
+  def encode(term, _encoder) when @min_int64 <= term and term <= @max_int64 do
     Pythonx.NIF.long_from_int64(term)
   end
 
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, _encoder) do
     # Technically we could do an object call on Python int.from_bytes,
     # however given that this is a rare path (integers over 64 bits)
     # and that Python C API has a specific function to create integer
@@ -127,11 +127,11 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Integer do
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: BitString do
-  def encode(term) when is_binary(term) do
+  def encode(term, _encoder) when is_binary(term) do
     Pythonx.NIF.bytes_from_binary(term)
   end
 
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, _encoder) do
     raise Protocol.UndefinedError,
       protocol: @protocol,
       value: term,
@@ -140,15 +140,11 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: BitString do
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Map do
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, encoder) do
     dict = Pythonx.NIF.dict_new()
 
     for {key, value} <- term do
-      Pythonx.NIF.dict_set_item(
-        dict,
-        Pythonx.Encoder.encode(key),
-        Pythonx.Encoder.encode(value)
-      )
+      Pythonx.NIF.dict_set_item(dict, encoder.(key, encoder), encoder.(value, encoder))
     end
 
     dict
@@ -156,13 +152,13 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Map do
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Tuple do
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, encoder) do
     size = tuple_size(term)
 
     tuple = Pythonx.NIF.tuple_new(size)
 
     for index <- 0..(size - 1)//1 do
-      value = Pythonx.Encoder.encode(elem(term, index))
+      value = encoder.(elem(term, index), encoder)
       Pythonx.NIF.tuple_set_item(tuple, index, value)
     end
 
@@ -171,7 +167,7 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: Tuple do
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: List do
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, encoder) do
     # Note that to compute length we need to traverse the list, but
     # otherwise we cannot preallocate the Python list and we would
     # need to use append (which could result in many reallocations).
@@ -180,7 +176,7 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: List do
     list = Pythonx.NIF.list_new(size)
 
     Enum.with_index(term, fn item, index ->
-      value = Pythonx.Encoder.encode(item)
+      value = encoder.(item, encoder)
       Pythonx.NIF.list_set_item(list, index, value)
     end)
 
@@ -189,11 +185,11 @@ defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: List do
 end
 
 defimpl Pythonx.Encoder, for: MapSet do
-  def encode(term) do
+  def encode(term, encoder) do
     set = Pythonx.NIF.set_new()
 
     for item <- term do
-      key = Pythonx.Encoder.encode(item)
+      key = encoder.(item, encoder)
       Pythonx.NIF.set_add(set, key)
     end
 
diff --git a/test/pythonx_test.exs b/test/pythonx_test.exs
index 61cd69f..86bb14d 100644
--- a/test/pythonx_test.exs
+++ b/test/pythonx_test.exs
@@ -63,6 +63,20 @@ defmodule PythonxTest do
       object = Pythonx.encode!(1)
       assert Pythonx.encode!(object) == object
     end
+
+    test "custom encoder" do
+      # Contrived example where we encode tuples as lists.
+
+      encoder = fn
+        tuple, encoder when is_tuple(tuple) ->
+          Pythonx.Encoder.encode(Tuple.to_list(tuple), encoder)
+
+        other, encoder ->
+          Pythonx.Encoder.encode(other, encoder)
+      end
+
+      assert repr(Pythonx.encode!({1, 2}, encoder)) == "[1, 2]"
+    end
   end
 
   describe "decode/1" do