diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/book/edit/edit_book.html b/bookwyrm/templates/book/edit/edit_book.html
index cbbdc7d86..619df2026 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/book/edit/edit_book.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/book/edit/edit_book.html
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@
                         <p class="help ml-5">
                             {{ author.existing_isnis|get_isni_bio:match }}
                         </p>
+                        {{ author.existing_isnis|get_isni:match }}
                         {% endfor %}
                         <label class="label mt-2">
                             <input type="radio" name="author_match-{{ counter }}" value="{{ author.name }}" required> {% trans "This is a new author" %}
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templatetags/utilities.py b/bookwyrm/templatetags/utilities.py
index 7e771a179..c2112d0b7 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templatetags/utilities.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/templatetags/utilities.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import os
 import re
 from uuid import uuid4
 from django import template
+from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
 from django.template.defaultfilters import stringfilter
 from django.templatetags.static import static
@@ -83,6 +84,21 @@ def get_isni_bio(existing, author):
     return ""
 
 
+@register.filter(name="get_isni", needs_autoescape=True)
+def get_isni(existing, author, autoescape=True):
+    """Returns the isni ID if an existing author has an ISNI listing"""
+    auth_isni = re.sub(r"\D", "", str(author.isni))
+    if len(existing) == 0:
+        return ""
+    for value in existing:
+        if "isni" in value and auth_isni == re.sub(r"\D", "", str(value["isni"])):
+            isni = value["isni"]
+            return mark_safe(
+                f'<input type="text" name="isni-for-{author.id}" value="{isni}" hidden>'
+            )
+    return ""
+
+
 @register.filter(name="remove_spaces")
 @stringfilter
 def remove_spaces(arg):
diff --git a/bookwyrm/utils/isni.py b/bookwyrm/utils/isni.py
index fa208cd81..1c46a87fb 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/utils/isni.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/utils/isni.py
@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ def get_author_isni_data(isni):
     aliases = element.findall(".//personalNameVariant")
     for entry in aliases:
         author["aliases"].append(make_name_string(entry))
-
+    # dedupe aliases
+    author["aliases"] = list(set(author["aliases"]))
     return author
 
 
@@ -130,3 +131,22 @@ def build_author_dict(match_value):
         return get_author_isni_data(isni)
     # otherwise it's a name string
     return {"name": match_value}
+
+
+def augment_author_metadata(author, isni):
+    """Update any missing author fields from ISNI data"""
+    isni_data = get_author_isni_data(isni)
+    author.viaf_id = (
+        isni_data["viaf_id"] if len(author.viaf_id) == 0 else author.viaf_id
+    )
+    author.wikipedia_link = (
+        isni_data["wikipedia_link"]
+        if len(author.wikipedia_link) == 0
+        else author.wikipedia_link
+    )
+    author.bio = isni_data["bio"] if len(author.bio) == 0 else author.bio
+    aliases = set(isni_data["aliases"])
+    for x in author.aliases:
+        aliases.add(x)
+    author.aliases = list(aliases)
+    author.save()
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views/books/edit_book.py b/bookwyrm/views/books/edit_book.py
index 177ee7089..555206e35 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views/books/edit_book.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views/books/edit_book.py
@@ -12,7 +12,11 @@ from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
 from django.views import View
 
 from bookwyrm import book_search, forms, models
-from bookwyrm.utils.isni import find_authors_by_name, build_author_dict
+from bookwyrm.utils.isni import (
+    find_authors_by_name,
+    build_author_dict,
+    augment_author_metadata,
+)
 from bookwyrm.views.helpers import get_edition
 from .books import set_cover_from_url
 
@@ -169,6 +173,10 @@ class ConfirmEditBook(View):
                     author = get_object_or_404(
                         models.Author, id=request.POST[f"author_match-{i}"]
                     )
+                    # update author metadata if the ISNI record is more complete
+                    isni = request.POST.get(f"isni-for-{match}", None)
+                    if isni is not None:
+                        augment_author_metadata(author, isni)
                 except ValueError:
                     # otherwise it's a name with or without isni id
                     author_data = build_author_dict(match)