diff --git a/iconv_test.go b/iconv_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f976ded
--- /dev/null
+++ b/iconv_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+package iconv
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+type iconvTest struct {
+	description string
+	input string
+	inputEncoding string
+	output string
+	outputEncoding string
+	bytesRead int
+	bytesWritten int
+	err Error
+}
+
+var iconvTests = []iconvTest {
+	iconvTest{
+		"simple utf-8 to latin1 conversion success",
+		"Hello World!", "utf-8",
+		"Hello World!", "latin1",
+		12, 12, nil,
+	},
+	iconvTest{
+		"invalid source encoding causes EINVAL",
+		"", "doesnotexist",
+		"", "utf-8",
+		0, 0, EINVAL,
+	},
+	iconvTest{
+		"invalid destination encoding causes EINVAL",
+		"", "utf-8",
+		"", "doesnotexist",
+		0, 0, EINVAL,
+	},
+	iconvTest{
+		"invalid input sequence causes EILSEQ",
+		"\xFF", "utf-8",
+		"", "latin1",
+		0, 0, EILSEQ,
+	},
+	iconvTest{
+		"invalid input causes partial output and EILSEQ",
+		"Hello\xFF", "utf-8",
+		"Hello", "latin1",
+		5, 5, EILSEQ,
+	},
+}
+
+func TestConvertString(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range iconvTests {
+		// perform the conversion
+		output, err := ConvertString(test.input, test.inputEncoding, test.outputEncoding)
+		
+		// check that output and err match
+		if output != test.output {
+			t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, output did not match expected", test.description)
+		}
+		
+		// check that err is same as expected
+		if err != test.err {
+			if test.err != nil {
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, got %s when expecting %s", test.description, err, test.err)
+				} else {
+					t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, got nil when expecting %s", test.description, test.err)
+				}
+			} else {
+				t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, got unexpected error: %s", test.description, err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestConvert(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range iconvTests {
+		// setup input buffer
+		input := []byte(test.input)
+		
+		// setup a buffer as large as the expected bytesWritten
+		output := make([]byte, 50)
+		
+		// peform the conversion
+		bytesRead, bytesWritten, err := Convert(input, output, test.inputEncoding, test.outputEncoding)
+		
+		// check that bytesRead is same as expected
+		if bytesRead != test.bytesRead {
+			t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, bytesRead did not match expected", test.description)
+		}
+		
+		// check that bytesWritten is same as expected
+		if bytesWritten != test.bytesWritten {
+			t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, bytesWritten did not match expected", test.description)
+		}
+		
+		// check output bytes against expected - simplest to convert output to
+		// string and then do an equality check which is actually a byte wise operation
+		if string(output[:bytesWritten]) != test.output {
+			t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, output did not match expected", test.description)
+		}
+		
+		// check that err is same as expected
+		if err != test.err {
+			if test.err != nil {
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, got %s when expecting %s", test.description, err, test.err)
+				} else {
+					t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, got nil when expecting %s", test.description, test.err)
+				}
+			} else {
+				t.Errorf("test \"%s\" failed, got unexpected error: %s", test.description, err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/writer.go b/writer.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8f8370
--- /dev/null
+++ b/writer.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package iconv
+
+import ( 
+	"io"
+	"os"
+)
+
+type Writer struct {
+	destination io.Writer
+	converter *Converter
+	buffer []byte
+	readPos, writePos int
+	err os.Error
+}
+
+func NewWriter(destination io.Writer, fromEncoding string, toEncoding string) (*Writer, os.Error) {
+	// create a converter
+	converter, err := NewConverter(fromEncoding, toEncoding)
+
+	if err == nil {
+		return NewWriterFromConverter(destination, converter), err
+	}
+
+	// return the error
+	return nil, err
+}
+
+func NewWriterFromConverter(destination io.Writer, converter *Converter) (writer *Writer) {
+	writer = new(Writer)
+
+	// copy elements
+	writer.destination = destination
+	writer.converter = converter
+
+	// create 8K buffers
+	writer.buffer = make([]byte, 8 * 1024)
+
+	return writer
+}
+
+func (this *Writer) emptyBuffer() {
+	// write new data out of buffer 
+	bytesWritten, err := this.destination.Write(this.buffer[this.readPos:this.writePos])
+	
+	// update read position
+	this.readPos += bytesWritten
+	
+	// slide existing data to beginning
+	if this.readPos > 0 {
+		// copy current bytes - is this guaranteed safe?
+		copy(this.buffer, this.buffer[this.readPos:this.writePos])
+
+		// adjust positions
+		this.writePos -= this.readPos
+		this.readPos = 0
+	}
+
+	// track any reader error / EOF
+	if err != nil {
+		this.err = err
+	}
+}
+
+// implement the io.Writer interface
+func (this *Writer) Write(p []byte) (n int, err os.Error) {
+	// write data into our internal buffer
+	bytesRead, bytesWritten, err := this.converter.Convert(p, this.buffer[this.writePos:])
+	
+	// update bytes written for return
+	n += bytesRead
+	this.writePos += bytesWritten
+	
+	// checks for when we have a full buffer
+	for this.writePos > 0 {
+		// if we have an error, just return it
+		if this.err != nil {
+			return 
+		}
+		
+		// else empty the buffer
+		this.emptyBuffer()
+	}
+	
+	return n, err
+}