diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/zipfile.py b/src/calibre/utils/zipfile.py
index b7ed5982da..0435e35646 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/zipfile.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/zipfile.py
@@ -1155,7 +1155,11 @@ class ZipFile:
 
         if member.filename[-1] == '/':
             if not os.path.isdir(targetpath):
-                os.mkdir(targetpath)
+                try:
+                    os.mkdir(targetpath)
+                except Exception:  # Added by Kovid
+                    targetpath = os.path.join(base_target, sanitize_file_name(fname))
+                    os.mkdir(targetpath)
             self.extract_mapping[member.filename] = targetpath
             return targetpath