List of diarists

This is an international list of diarists who have Wikipedia pages and whose journals have been published.

A
• Layal Abboud (born 1982), Lebanese singer and dancer

• Rreze Abdullahu (born 1990), Kosovo Albanian writer

• Abutsu-ni (阿仏尼, c. 1222–1283), Japanese nun and poet

• J. R. Ackerley (1896–1967), English literary editor and biographer

• Louise-Victorine Ackermann (1813–1890), French writer and philosopher

• Lady Harriet Acland (1750–1815), English noblewoman and nurse

• John Adams (1735–1826), 2nd President of the United States, statesman and diplomat

• John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), 6th President of the United States, statesman and diplomat

• Catherine Adamson (1868–1925), New Zealand homemaker

• Felix Aderca (1891–1962), Romanian novelist, playwright and poet

• James Agate (1877–1947), English writer and critic

• Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), American novelist

• William Allingham (1824–1889), Irish poet

• Nuha al-Radi (1941–2004), Iraqi potter and painter

• Thura al-Windawi (born 1983), Iraqi pharmacologist and political commentator

• Isaac Ambrose (1604–1664), English Puritan

• Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881), Swiss philosopher, poet and critic

• Hansine Andræ (1817–1898), Danish feminist

• Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), French writer

• Harriet Arbuthnot (1793–1834), English associate of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

• Takeo Arishima (有島 武郎, 1878–1923), Japanese novelist

• Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), French writer and critic

• Lady Cynthia Asquith (1887–1960), English writer

• Elise Aubert (1837–1909), Norwegian fiction and non-fiction writer

• Charles John Ayton (1846–1922), New Zealand gold miner and rabbiter

B
• Gustav Badin (1747 or 1750–1822), Swedish court servant

• Elizabeth Baker (c. 1720 – c. 1797), English secretary and geologist

• David Paton Balfour (1841–1894), New Zealand sheep farmer and roading supervisor

• Martha Ballard (1735–1812), American midwife and healer

• Samuel Bamford (1788–1872), English dialect poet and dialect theorist

• Maria Banuș (1914–1999), Romanian poet and essayist

• Sara Banzet (1745–1774), French educator

• Aurel Baranga (1913–1979), Romanian playwright and poet

• W. N. P. Barbellion (1889–1919), English naturalist, essayist and short story writer

• Mary Anne Barker (1831–1911), Jamaican-born Australian writer

• Archie Barwick (1890–1966), Australian farmer and soldier

• Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (1908–1994), Indian independence activist and writer

• Franta Bass (1930-1944), Jewish Czechoslovakian child poet, Holocaust victim

• Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884), Ukrainian painter and sculptor (in French)

• Fred Bason (1907–1973), English bookseller, broadcaster and writer

• Annie Maria Baxter (1816–1905), English-born Australian housewife

• Peter Hill Beard (born 1938), American photographer in Africa

• Cecil Beaton (1904–1980), English fashion, portrait and war photographer

• Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986), French writer and philosopher

• Ben no Naishi (弁内侍, c. 1220s – c. 1270), Japanese court lady and poet

• Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), American anthropologist

• Tony Benn (Anthony Wedgwood Benn, 1925–2014), English politician

• Alan Bennett (born 1934), English writer and playwright

• Arnold Bennett (1867–1931), English novelist

• A. C. Benson (1862–1925), English academic, biographer and poet

• Märta Berendes (1639–1717), Swedish mistress of the robes

• Olga Bergholz (1910–1975), Soviet poet and playwright

• Pierre Bergounioux (born 1949), French writer

• Hélène Berr (1921–1945), French writer on Nazi occupation of Paris

• Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), German playwright, poet and politician

• Alfred Bestall (1892–1986), English illustrator, best known for Rupert Bear stories

• Mary Matilda Betham (1776–1852), English poet, woman of letters and miniature portrait painter.

• Maine de Biran (1766–1824), French writer, philosopher and mathematician

• Léon Bloy (1846–1917), French novelist, poet and pamphleteer

• Nicholas Blundell (1669–1737), English squire

• Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922), English poet and writer

• Barbara Bodichon (1827–1891), English educationalist, feminist and traveller (An American Diary 1857–1858)

• George Wallace Bollinger (1890–1917), New Zealand soldier

• Violet Bonham Carter (1887–1969), English politician, daughter of Prime Minister H. H. Asquith

• Teresina Bontempi (1883–1968) Swiss political activist

• Stanley Booth (born 1942), American music journalist

• Józef Boruwłaski (1739–1837), Polish dwarf musician

• James Boswell (1740–1795), Scottish chronicler of Samuel Johnson

• Jimmy Boyle (born 1944), Scottish gangster, sculptor and novelist

• Jocelyn de Brakelond (c. 1155 – c. 1202), English monk (in Latin)

• Ulrich Bräker (1735–1798), Swiss autodidact and writer

• Gyles Brandreth (born 1948), English writer and politician

• Alice Dayrell Caldeira Brant (1880–1970), Brazilian teenage diarist

• Patrick Breen (1795–1868), American member of The Donner Party, who suffered while stranded in the wilderness in the winter of 1846/47

• Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet (1604–1661), English politician and Roundhead military commander

• Vera Brittain (1893–1970), English author and feminist

• Benjamin Britten (1913–1976), English composer

• Ford Madox Brown (1821–1893), French-born English painter

• David Bruce (1898–1977), American ambassador

• Nathaniel Bryceson (1826–1911), English clerk

• Thomas Bryn (1782–1827), Norwegian jurist and civil servant

• Emanoil Bucuța (1887–1946), Romanian novelist, critic and poet

• Kazimierz Bujnicki (1788–1878), Polish writer

• Deborah Bull (born 1963), English ballet dancer and writer

• Reader Bullard (1885–1976), English diplomat

• Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), Russian/Soviet novelist

• Fanny Burney (1752–1840), English novelist, playwright and biographer

• Richard Burton (1925–1984), Welsh actor

• Elizabeth Bury (1644–1720), English nonconformist

• Eleanor Charlotte Butler (1739–1829) One of the once controversial Ladies of Llangollen

• Mary Butts (1890–1937), English writer

• William Byrd II (1674–1744), Colonial American diarist

• Lord Byron (1788–1824), English poet and traveler

C
• Meg Cabot (born 1967), American YA author

• Alexander Cadogan (1884–1968), English diplomat and civil servant

• Louis Calaferte (1928–1994), French novelist and essayist

• Matei Călinescu (1934–2009), Romanian critic and professor

• Alastair Campbell (born 1957), Anglo-Scottish journalist, broadcaster and author

• Thomas Campbell (1733–1795), Irish Protestant minister and travel writer

• Zenobia Camprubí (1887–1956), Spanish Civil War seen from Cuba

• Albert Camus (1913–1960), Algerian-born French writer and philosopher

• Emily Carr (1871–1945), Canadian artist

• Dora Carrington (1893–1932), English painter

• Jim Carroll (1949–2009), American author, poet and musician

• Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson, 1832–1898), English writer and mathematician

• Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914–1999), Argentine fiction writer and collaborator with Jorge Luis Borges

• Richard Casey, Baron Casey (1890–1976), Australian statesman and ambassador

• Judy Cassab (1920–2015), Australian artist

• Constance de Castelbajac (1859–1886), French aristocrat

• Abelardo Castillo (1935–2017), Argentine novelist and essayist

• Barbara Castle (1910–2002), English politician

• Henri de Catt (1725–1795), Swiss scholar

• Catherine Caughey (1923–2008), Kenyan-born New Zealand code breaker and occupational therapist

• Hannah Rebecca Frances Caverhill (1834–1897), New Zealand homemaker

• Henry "Chips" Channon (1897–1958), Anglo-American politician and author

• Miriam Chaszczewacki (1924–1942), Polish Jewish Holocaust victim

• John Cheever (1912–1982), American novelist

• Claire Lee Chennault (1890–1958), American World War II General, head of the Flying Tigers

• Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823–1886), American who described life in South Carolina in the American Civil War

• Choe Bu (최부, 1454–1504), Korean official and traveler

• Johan Koren Christie (1909–1995), Norwegian air-force major general

• Galeazzo Ciano (1903–1944), Mussolini's Italian foreign minister

• Hanns Cibulka (1920–2004), German Bohemian poet

• Emil Cioran (1911–1995), Romanian writer and philosopher

• Alan Clark (1928–1999), English politician and historian

• Andrew Clark (1856–1922), Scottish diarist and cleric

• Ossie Clark (1942–1996), English fashion designer

• Ralph Clark (1755 or 1762 – 1794), Scottish naval officer

• Willem de Clercq (1795–1844), Dutch Protestant revivalist

• Lady Anne Clifford (1590–1676), English literary patron and correspondent

• Kurt Cobain (1967–1994), American rock musician, Nirvana's lead singer

• Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn (1779–1854), Scottish judge and writer

• Richard Cocks (1566–1624), English head of trading post in Japan

• Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), French writer and filmmaker

• John Alan Coey (1950–1975), American soldier with the Rhodesian army

• Mary Coke (1727–1811), English diarist and correspondent

• William Cole (1714–1782), English Anglican cleric and antiquary

• Maurice Collis (1889–1973), Irish administrator in Burma and writer

• Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo, c. 1451 – 1506), Italian explorer and colonizer

• Jock Colville (1915–1987), English civil servant

• Jemima Condict (1754–1779), American child diarist

• Yves Congar (1904–1995), French Dominican friar and theologian

• Thomas Coningsby (9 October 1550-30 May 1625), English soldier and member of parliament

• Benjamin Constant (1767–1830), French writer, philosopher and politician

• Ethel Cooper (1871–1961), Australian musician and First World War German detainee

• Eleanor Coppola (b. 1936), American filmmaker and writer

• Rachel Corrie (1979–2003), American activist

• William Johnson Cory (1823–1892), English schoolmaster and scholar

• Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini (1876–1958), Vatican cardinal and Apostolic Chancellor

• Noël Coward (1899–1973), English playwright and composer

• Mary Cowper (1685–1724), English courtier

• James Cox (1846–1925), New Zealand swagman

• Peter Julius Coyet (1618–1667), Swedish envoy to England

• Thomas Creevey (1768–1838), English politician

• Nicholas Cresswell (1750–1804), English settler in the American colonies

• Nicolae Cristea (1834–1902), Romanian priest and political activist

• John Wilson Croker (1780–1857), Irish-born politician

• Susan Mary Crompton (1846–1932), Australian social welfare reformer

• Fritz Cronman (c. 1640 – c. 1680), Swedish diplomat

• Richard Crossman (1907–1974), English politician and writer

• Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), English occultist and poet

• Hannah Cullwick (1833–1909), English domestic servant and lodging-house keeper

• Marie Curie (1867–1934), Polish physicist and chemist

• Alexis Curvers (1906–1992), Belgian writer

• Cyryl Czarkowski-Golejewski (1885–1940), Polish landowner and Katyn massacre victim

• Klementyna Czartoryska (1780–1852), Polish noblewoman

• Adam Czerniaków (1880–1942), Polish head of the Warsaw Ghetto's Judenrat and Holocaust victim

D
• Ludvig Daae (1829–1893), Norwegian jurist and politician

• Eugène Dabit (1898–1936), French writer

• Maria Dąbrowska (1889–1965), Polish novelist and playwright

• Luísa Dacosta (1927–2015), Portuguese fiction writer and poet

• Thomas Dallam (1570 – post-1614), English organ builder (diary 1598–1599, journey to Turkey)

• Jasper Danckaerts (1639–1702/1704), Dutch North American colonist and travel writer

• Đặng Thùy Trâm (1942–1970), Vietnamese army surgeon

• Jacob Hersleb Darre (1757–1841), Norwegian chaplain and constitutional assembly representative

• Gregorio Dati (1363–1435), Florentine merchant

• Emilie Davis (fl. 1860s), African-American diarist

• Anna Dawbin (1816–1905), English-born Australian housewife and foster mother

• Dorothy Day (1897-1980), American journalist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement

• Jens Peter Debes (1776–1832), Norwegian judge and politician

• John Dee 17th-century English mathematician and astronomer of Welsh extraction

• Sophie Dedekam (1820–1894), Norwegian composer

• Helga Deen (1925–1943), Dutch/German Holocaust victim

• Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), French painter

• E. M. Delafield (1890–1943), English novelist

• Bernard Delvaille (1931–2006), French poet and anthologist

• Dan Deșliu (1927–1992), Romanian poet

• Giuseppe Dessì (1909–1977), Italian novelist and playwright

• Simonds d'Ewes (1602–1650), English antiquary and politician

• George Diamandy (1867–1917), Romanian politician and social scientist

• Charles Lutwidge Dodgson: see Lewis Carroll

• George Bubb Dodington (1691–1762), English politician and nobleman

• Pete Doherty, English rock musician (Babyshambles), (born 1979), ex-Libertines

• Emil Dorian, Romanian poet and physician

• Anna Dostoyevskaya (1846–1918), Russian wife of Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881), Russian novelist

• Gusta Dawidson Draenger (1917–1943), Polish Holocaust victim

• Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker (c. 1735–1807), American Quaker diarist

• Alice Dudeney (1866–1945), English novelist (life in Sussex)

• Eugène Duflot de Mofras (1810–1884), French naturalist and diplomat

• William Dugdale (1605–1686), English antiquary and historian

• Antera Duke (died post-1788), Nigerian slave trader

• Marguerite Duras (1914–1996), French novelist and scriptwriter

• Bob Dylan (born 1941), American musician and songwriter

• William Dyott (1761-1847), British army General and aide-de-camp of George III

E
• Isabelle Eberhardt (1877–1904), Swiss explorer and writer

• Christina Ebner (1277–1356), German Dominican mystic

• Margareta Ebner (1291–1351), German Dominican nun

• Dickon Edwards (born 1971), British musician and dandy

• Jacob Elet (earlier 18th c.), Dutch factor on the Slave Coast of West Africa

• Mircea Eliade (1907–1986), Romanian historian of religion and mythologist

• George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans, 1819–1880), English novelist

• Edward Robb Ellis (1911–1998), American writer and reporter

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), American writer

• Selma Engel-Wijnberg (1922–2018), Dutch Holocaust survivor

• Brian Eno (born 1948), English musician, record producer and polymath

• Annie Ernaux (1940-), French writer

• John Evelyn (1620–1706), English writer, scholar and gardener

F
• Marianne Faithfull (born 1946), English singer and actress

• Joseph Farington (1747–1821), English landscape painter

• Florence Farmborough (1887–1978), English nurse and author

• John Pascoe Fawkner (1792–1869), Australian pioneer and politician

• Eliza Fay (1756–1816), English traveller to India

• Miksa Fenyő (1877–1972), Hungarian politician and poet

• Jacques Fesch (1930–1957), French murderer and Catholic convert

• Dorothea de Ficquelmont (1804–1863), Russian diarist in French and salonnière

• Celia Fiennes (1652–1741), English traveler

• Zlata Filipović (born 1980), Bosnian child and adult diarist in Sarajevo

• Carrie Fisher (1956–2016), American actress and writer

• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), American writer

• Arne Fjellbu (1890–1962), Norwegian bishop

• Marjorie Fleming (1803–1811), Scottish child diarist (diary 1809–1811)

• Margaret Fountaine (1862–1940), lepidopterist

• Caroline Fox (1819–1871), English socialite, sister of Barclay

• George Fox (1624–1691), English founder of the Quakers

• Samuel Foxe (1560–1630, English politician

• Anne Frank (1929–1945), Dutch Holocaust victim, documenting her life in hiding (1941–1945)

• Miles Franklin (1879–1954), Australian author

• Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle (1789–1857), English wife of Thomas Fremantle (Royal Navy officer), main contributor to The Wynne Diaries

• Donald Friend (1915–1989), Australian artist

• Robert Fripp (born 1946), English musician

• Max Frisch (1911–1991), Swiss playwright and novelist

• Samuel Fritz (1654–1725, 1728 or 1730), Czech Jesuit missionary and explorer

• Bella Fromm (1890–1972), German wartime diarist and journalist

• Fujiwara no Kanezane (1149–1207), Japanese historian and Chief Minister

• Fujiwara no Michinaga (966–1028), Japanese statesman

• Fujiwara no Sanesuke (957–1046), Japanese Minister of the Right

• Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241), Japanese scholar and calligrapher

• Buckminster Fuller (1895–1993), American designer and engineer

• Catherine Fulton (1829–1919), New Zealand community leader and suffragette

• Joseph Furttenbach (1591–1667), German architect and mathematician

G
• Wanda Gág (1893–1946), American artist and children's author

• Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963), English politician

• Arne Garborg (1851–1924), Norwegian writer

• David Gascoyne (1916–2001), English poet and translator

• Vladimir Gelfand (1923–1983), Soviet World War II soldier

• Eugenia Gertsyk (1878–1944), Russian/Soviet writer and translator

• Edward Gibbon (1737–1794), English historian and politician

• André Gide (1869–1951), French novelist and man of letters

• Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), American beat poet

• Petr Ginz (1928–1944), Czechoslovak author, artist, editor, and Holocaust victim

• Carl Ferdinand Gjerdrum (1821–1902), Norwegian jurist and businessman

• Mary Gladstone (1847–1927), English political diarist

• Glückel of Hameln (1647–1727), German businesswoman and diarist in Yiddish

• Emperor Go-Nara (1495–1557), Japanese Emperor

• Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945), Nazi German Propaganda Minister

• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German writer and statesman

• Paul Goma (1935–2020), Romanian dissident writer

• Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969), Polish writer

• Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896), French writer and critic, brother of Jules

• Jules de Goncourt (1830–1870), French writer, brother of Edmond

• Gilles de Gouberville (1521–1578), French seigneur in Cotentin, Normandy

• Zalman Gradowski (1910–1944), Polish Jewish Holocaust victim

• Françoise de Graffigny (1695–1758), French novelist and salonnière

• Elizabeth Grant (1797–1885), Scottish traveler and writer

• Richard E. Grant (born 1957), Swazi/English actor

• Francine du Plessix Gray (born 1930), Franco-American author

• Julien Green (1900–1998), American author, writing in French

• Bob Greene (born 1947), American journalist

• Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852–1932), Irish dramatist and theater manager

• Joyce Grenfell (1910–1979), English actress and writer

• H. W. Gretton (1914–1983), New Zealand poet, teacher and soldier

• Charles Greville (1794–1865), English civil servant and cricketer

• Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837–1914), American abolitionist and women's rights activist

• Harriet Grote (1792–1878), English salonnière and biographer

• Benoîte Groult (1920–2016), French writer

• Eugénie de Guérin (1805–1848), French writer

• Che Guevara (1928–1967), Argentine revolutionary

• Hervé Guibert (1955–1991), French writer and AIDS activist

• Alec Guinness (1914–2000), English actor

• Pierre Guyotat (born 1940), French writer

H
• Michihiko Hachiya (蜂谷道彦, 1903–1980), Japanese medical practitioner and Hiroshima survivor

• Peter Hagendorf (c. 1601 or 1602–1679), German mercenary in the Thirty Years' War

• Harry Robbins Haldeman (H. R. Haldeman, 1926–1993), American political aide involved in Watergate

• Franz Halder (1884–1972), German army general

• Peter Hall (1930–2017), English theater and film director

• Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961), Swedish Secretary-General of the United Nations

• Richard Hammond (born 1969), English TV presenter

• Emperor Hanazono (花園天皇, 1297–1348), Japanese Emperor

• Heinrich Hansjakob (1837–1916), German Catholic priest, historian and novelist

• Hara Takashi (原敬, 1856–1921), Japanese Prime Minister

• Mary Hardy (1733–1809), English farmer and brewer's wife from Whissonsett, Norfolk

• Saima Harmaja (1913–1937), Finnish poet and tuberculosis victim

• Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (both 1981–1999), American schoolboy perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre

• Howell Harris (1714–1773), Welsh preacher

• Keith Haring (1958–1990), American artist

• Olav H. Hauge (1908–1994), Norwegian horticulturalist and poet

• Jens Haugland (1910–1991), Norwegian jurist and politician

• Mireille Havet (1898–1932), French writer

• Peter Hawker (1786–1853), English army officer and sportsman

• Mary Hayden (1862–1942), Irish historian

• Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846), English painter

• Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893), 19th President of the United States

• Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (1759–1818), documented life in the Swedish royal court and elite, 1775–1817

• Philip Henslowe (c. 1550–1615), English theatre producer

• Dorothea Herbert (c. 1767–1829), Irish poet

• Abel Herzberg (1893–1989), Dutch lawyer and writer

• Maria Heyde (1837–1913), German missionary and translator in Tibet

• Elisabeth von Heyking (1861–1925), German novelist and travel writer

• Patricia Highsmith (1923–1995), American author

• Etty Hillesum (1914–1943), Dutch Holocaust victim.

• George Hilton (1673–1725), English gentleman diarist

• Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945), Nazi and commander of the SS

• Edmund C. Hinde (1830–1909), American participant in the 1850s California Gold Rush

• Anna Maria Hinel (1924–1943), Polish underground activist and Holocaust victim

• Henry Hitchcock, American lawyer serving under General William Tecumseh Sherman

• Louisa Gurney Hoare (1784–1836), English writer on education

• Richard Hoare, second baronet (1758–1838), English antiquary and traveler

• Lady Margaret Hoby (1599–1605), English gentlewoman

• John Hobhouse (1786–1869), English politician and Member of Parliament

• Edith Holden, (1871–1920), English artist, teacher and naturalist

• William Holland (1746–1818), English country clergyman

• Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (1759–1818), Queen of Sweden and Norway

• Philip Hone (1780–1851), American mayor and New York socialite

• Karen Horney (1885–1952), German psychoanalyst

• Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889), English poet and priest

• Lyall Howard (1896–1955), Australian engineer and businessman

• Constantijn Huygens Jr. (1628–1697), 17th century Dutch astronomer

I
• William Ralph Inge (1860–1954), English cleric and author

• Julia, Lady Inglis (1833–1904), English diarist with an account of the 1857 Siege of Lucknow

• Arthur Crew Inman (1895–1963), American poet who wrote a diary of 17 million words

• Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986), English-American novelist

• Ishin Sūden (以心崇伝, 1569–1633), Japanese Zen Rinzai monk and advisor

• Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (1894–1980), Polish writer, poet and dramatist

• Izumi Shikibu (和泉式部, born c. 976), Japanese poet

J
• Rosamond Jacob (1888–1960), Irish writer

• Violet Jacob (1863–1946), Scottish novelist and poet

• Alice James (1848–1892), American sister of novelist Henry and philosopher William

• Derek Jarman (1942–1994), English painter, filmmaker and gardener

• Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914–1977), Brazilian writer and social activist

• Jahanra Imam (1929–1994), Bangladeshi writer and political activist

• Joseph Jenkins (1818–1898), Welsh-born Australian swagman and self-educator

• Roy Jenkins (1920–2003), Welsh-born British politician and biographer

• Finn Varde Jespersen (1914–1944), Norwegian orienteer and air force lieutenant

• John Beauchamp Jones (1810–1866), American novelist and Confederate War Department clerk

• Liz Jones (born 1958), English writer and journalist

• Ralph Josselin (1617–1683), rural English cleric (diary 1641–1683)

• Marcel Jouhandeau (1888–1979), French writer

• Stanislaus Joyce (1884–1955), Irish scholar and writer

• Ernst Jünger (1895–1998), German entomologist and Wehrmacht officer

K
• Franz Kafka (1883–1924), German-language novelist in Czechoslovakia

• Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), Mexican painter

• Kajūji Mitsutoyo (勧修寺光豊, 1576–1612), Japanese noble

• Leszli Kálli (living), Colombian kidnap victim

• Wojciech Karpiński (born 1943), Polish critic and historian of ideas

• Erich Kästner (1899–1974), German satirist and children's writer

• Alfred Kazin (1915–1988), American writer and critic

• Ravindra Kelekar (1925–2010), Indian activist and writer

• Friedrich Kellner (1885–1970), German justice inspector and author

• Fanny Kemble (1809–1893), English actress

• Harry Graf Kessler (1868–1937), Anglo-German diplomat and writer

• Kōichi Kido (木戸幸一, 1889–1977), Japanese imperial advisor

• Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish philosopher and theologian

• Francis Kilvert (1840–1879), English country cleric

• Kimura Kenkadō (木村蒹葭堂, 1736–1802), Japanese scholar and artist

• Cecil Harmsworth King (1901–1987), English newspaper proprietor

• William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874–1950), Canadian Prime Minister

• Lincoln Kirstein (1907–1996), American writer, impresario and connoisseur

• Aya Kitō (木藤亜也, 1962–1988), Japanese sufferer from spinocerebellar ataxia

• Paul Klee (1879–1940), Swiss-German painter

• Victor Klemperer (1881–1960), German scholar and writer

• Jochen Klepper (1903–1942), German writer and poet

• Robert Knopwood (1763–1938), English-born Australian clergyman

• Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶, 1763–1828), Japanese Jōdo Shinshū lay priest

• Věra Kohnová (1929–1942), Czechoslovak Holocaust victim

• David Koker (1921–1945), Dutch Holocaust victim

• Karl Koller (1898–1951), German air force general

• Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), German artist

• Konoe Nobutada (近衛信尹, 1565–1614), Japanese courtier and poet

• Ina Konstantinova (1924–1944), Soviet World War II partisan

• Christiane Koren (1764–1815), Danish-born Norwegian poet and playwright

• Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), Polish mystic, saint and secretary of Divine Mercy

• Teodora Krajewska (1854–1935), Polish-born Austro-Hungarian physician and writer

• Marianne Kraus (1765–1838), German painter and travel writer

• Doppo Kunikida (国木田獨歩, 1871–1908), Japanese novelist and poet

• Mikhail Kuzmin (1872–1936), Russian writer

L
• Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940), Swedish writer, first female winner of Nobel Prize for Literature

• Luca Landucci (1436–1516), Florentine Italian apothecary

• Gladys Langford (1890–1972), London wartime schoolteacher

• Rutka Laskier (1929–1943), Polish Holocaust chronicler

• Nella Last (1889–1968), English housewife

• Mark Latham (born 1961), Australian Labor Party politician

• Valery Larbaud (1881–1957), French author

• Alan Lascelles (1887–1881), English royal courtier and civil servant

• Rutka Laskier (1929–1943), Polish Jewish Holocaust victim

• Friedrich Christian Laukhard (1757–1822), German novelist and theologian

• Mary Leadbeater (1758–1826), Irish writer

• Paul Léautaud (1872–1956), French writer and author of Le Journal Littéraire

• Jan Lechoń (1899–1956), Polish critic and diplomat

• James Lees-Milne (1908–1997), English biographer, historian and secretary of National Trust Country House Committee

• Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007), American author

• Élisabeth Leseur (1866–1914), French mystic

• Pierre de L'Estoile (1546–1611), French collector

• Didier Lestrade (born 1958), French author and AIDS activist

• C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), Irish-born English children's writer and theologian

• Norman Lewis (1908–2003), English journalist and travel writer

• Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001), American wife of aviator, who described the kidnapping of their child

• Rywka Lipszyc (1929 – c. 1945), Polish Jewish Holocaust victim

• Anne Lister (1791–1840), English landowner, diarist and lesbian

• R. H. Bruce Lockhart (1887–1970), English secret agent and author

• Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (1905–2001), English politician and reformer

• Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925), French writer

• Courtney Love (born 1964), American actress and rock musician

• Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868–1947), French-born English novelist and playwright, sister of Hilaire Belloc

• Nina Lugovskaya (1918–1993), Soviet Russian artist (diary 1928–1937)

• Narcissus Luttrell (1657–1732), English historian and politician

M
• Dónall Mac Amhlaigh (1926–1989), Irish writer

• Elizabeth Macarthur (1766–1850), English-born Australian pastoralist and merchant

• Henry Machyn (1496/1498–1563), English clothier

• Alasdair Maclean (1926–1994), Scottish poet

• Sarah Broom Macnaughtan (1864–1916), Scottish-born novelist and wartime social volunteer

• Harold Macmillan (1894–1986), UK Prime Minister

• William Macready (1793–1873), English actor

• Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949), Belgian writer

• Alma Mahler-Werfel (1879–1964), German musician, wife of Gustav Mahler

• Charles Malik (1906–1987), Lebanese philosopher and diplomat

• Judith Malina (1926–2015), German-born American actress and co-founder of Living Theatre

• Julie Manet (1878–1966), French painter and model

• Edna Manley (1900–1987), Jamaican sculptor and painter

• Petru Manoliu (1903–1976), Romanian novelist and newspaper editor

• Klaus Mann (1906–1949), German-born American writer

• Thomas Mann (1875–1955), German novelist and Nobel Prize in Literature winner

• John Manningham (died 1622), English lawyer

• Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923), New Zealand modernist fiction writer

• Mathieu Marais (1665–1737), French jurist

• Marie of Romania (1875–1938), English-born Romanian queen consort

• Atanasie Marian Marienescu (1830–1915), Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian folklorist

• Joachim Martin (1842–1897), French carpenter

• Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958), French writer

• Helena Apolonia Massalska (1763–1815), Polish noblewoman

• Mary Mathew (1724–1777), Irish householder

• Sarah Mathew (c. 1805–1890), New Zealand housewife

• Matsudair Ietada (松平家忠, 1555–1600), Japanese samurai

• Christopher Matthew (born 1939), English writer and broadcaster

• Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉, 1644–1694), Japanese haiku and renga poet

• Megan McCafferty (born 1973), American YA author

• Georgiana McCrae (1804–1890), English-born Australian painter

• Kit McNaughton (c. 1887–1953), Australian wartime nurse

• Durgaram Mehta (1809–1876), Indian Gujarati reformer and essayist

• H. L. Mencken (1880–1956), American essayist and scholar

• Thomas Merton (1915–1968), Trappist monk and writer

• Wojciech Miaskowski (died c. 1654), Polish nobleman and Sejm member

• Fujiwara no Michinaga (藤原道長?, 966–1028), Japanese poet and statesman

• Michitsuna no Haha (c. 935–995), Japanese writer

• Jo Mihaly (1902–1989), German dancer and writer

• Minamoto no Michichika (源通親, 1149–1202), Japanese statesman

• Pierre Minet (1909–1975), French writer

• André François Miot de Mélito (1762–1841), French statesman and scholar

• Naomi Mitchison (1897–1999), Scottish novelist and poet

• Petter Moen (1901–1944), Norwegian resistance fighter

• George Fletcher Moore (1798–1886), Irish-born Australian settler, explorer and linguist

• Alanis Morissette (born 1974), Canadian singer and songwriter

• Yoko Moriwaki (森脇瑤子, 1932–1945), Japanese diarist and Hiroshima victim

• Helena Morley (1880–1970), Brazilian young-adult writer

• Roger Morrice (1628–1702), English Puritan minister and political commentator

• Mary Morris (1921–1997), Irish wartime nurse

• Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870), Bohemian composer and pianist

• René Mouchotte (1914–1943), French air force pilot

• Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900–1979), UK naval officer and statesman

• Mary Braidwood Mowle (1827–1857), English-born Australian settler

• Sławomir Mrożek (1930–2013), Polish dramatist and cartoonist

• Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990), English journalist and satirist

• Lena Mukhina (1924–1991), Soviet teenager during Siege of Leningrad

• Chris Mullin (born 1947), English Labour politician and writer

• Arthur Munby (1828–1910), English poet, barrister, and solicitor

• Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部, c. 973 or 978 – c. 1014 or 1031), Japanese novelist and lady in waiting

• Iris Murdoch (1919–1999), Anglo-Irish novelist

• Costin Murgescu (1919–1989), Romanian economist and diplomat

• Robert Musil (1880–1942), Austrian novelist and philosopher

N
• Marc-Édouard Nabe (born 1958), French writer, painter and guitarist

• Kafū Nagai (永井荷風, 1879–1959), Japanese author and playwright

• Takashi Nagai (永井隆, 1908–1951), Japanese Catholic physician and Nagasaki survivor

• Nakayama Tadachika (中山忠親, 1131–1195), Japanese court noble and writer

• Zofia Nałkowska (1884–1954), Polish writer and dramatist

• Odd Nansen (1901–1973), Norwegian architect and humanitarian

• Stevie Nicks (born 1948), American singer/songwriter, member of Fleetwood Mac

• Harold Nicolson (1886–1968), English diplomat, politician and author

• Bronislava Nijinska (1891–1972), Polish/Russian ballet dance

• Vaslav Nijinsky (1890–1950), Russian ballet dancer and choreographer

• Lady Nijō (後深草院二条, 1258 – post–1307), Japanese noblewoman

• Anaïs Nin (1903–1977), Cuban/French lover of Henry Miller, writer of erotica, pornography and poetry

• Leonard Nolens (born 1947), Belgian poet

• Konrad Nordahl (1897–1975), Norwegian trade unionist and politician

O
• Joyce Carol Oates (born 1938), American author

• Akinpelu Obisesan (1889–1963), Nigerian businessman and politician

• Florence Vere O'Brien (1854–1936), English-born Irish philanthropist and craftwoman

• Tomas O'Crohan (1856–1937), Irish islander

• Irina Odoyevtseva (1895–1990), Russian/Soviet poet and novelist

• John Olsen (born 1945), Australian artist

• Willem Oltmans (1925–2004), Dutch journalist

• Tarlach Ó Mealláin (fl. 1641–1650), Irish Franciscan friar

• Ōoka Tadasuke (大岡忠相, 1677–1762), Japanese samurai

• Arne Ording (1898–1967), Norwegian historian and politician

• Iris Origo (1902–1988), English-born biographer

• John Oglander (1585–1655), English politician

• Joe Orton (1933–1967), English playwright

• George Orwell (1903–1950), English journalist, essayist and critic

• Einar Østvedt (1903–1980), Norwegian historian and educator

• Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin (1780–1837), Irish draper and teacher

• Cynthia Ozick (born 1928), American author

P
• Walburga, Lady Paget (1839–1929), German writer and friend of Queen Victoria

• Michael Palin (born 1943), English Monty Python team member, actor and travel writer

• Jim Parker (1897–1980), New Zealand sportsman and business executive

• Frances Partridge (née Marshall), (1900–2004), English writer

• George S. Patton (1885–1945), American World War II general

• Georg Pausch (c. 1740–1795 or 1796), German soldier in British service

• Claus Pavels (1769–1822), Norwegian bishop

• Cesare Pavese (1908–1950), Italian poet, novelist and critic

• John Otunba Payne (1839–1906), Nigerian court registrar

• Nicholas Peacock (fl. mid–18th c.), Irish farmer

• Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), Colonial American painter

• Drew Pearson (1897–1969), American journalist and broadcaster

• Giuseppe Bencivenni Pelli (1729–1808), Italian civil servant and essayist

• Elizabeth Pepys (1640–1669), French-born wife of Samuel Pepys

• Emily Pepys (1833–1877), English child diarist (diary 1844–1845)

• Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), English civil servant (diary 1660–1669)

• Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland (1716–1776), English peeress

• Calel Perechodnik (1916–1944), Polish Jewish ghetto policeman and Holocaust victim

• Diane Pernet (living), Paris-based American fashion critic

• Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė (1861–1943), Lithuanian fiction writer

• Tom Pickard (born 1946), English poet and filmmaker

• Ricardo Piglia (1941–2017), Argentine critic and novelist

• Karl Pilkington, English radio and TV personality

• Ananda Ranga Pillai (1709–1761), Indian dubash of French India

• Alejandra Pizarnik (1936–1972), Argentine poet

• Josep Pla (1897–1981), Catalan writer

• Sylvia Plath (1932–1963), American poet

• Thomas Platter the Younger (1574–1628), Swiss-born physician and traveller

• James K. Polk (1795–1849), 11th President of the United States

• John William Polidori (1795–1821), English poet, writer and physician

• Grigore T. Popa (1892–1948), Romanian physician and intellectual

• Agnes Porter (c. 1752–1814), English governess

• S. K. Pottekkatt (1913–1982), Indian writer and politician

• Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), English children's book writer and illustrator

• Liane de Pougy (1869–1950), French dancer and courtesan

• Anthony Powell (1905–2000), English novelist and biographer

• Dawn Powell (1896–1965), American writer

• Catherine Pozzi (1882–1934), French writer, Paul Valery's lover

• Christen Pram (1756–1821), Norwegian/Danish economist and writer

• Hana Maria Pravda (1916–2008), Czechoslovak/English actress and Holocaust survivor

• Mikhail Prishvin (1873–1954), Russian/Soviet writer

• Ferenc Pulszky (1814–1897), Hungarian politician

• Sextil Pușcariu (1877–1948), Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian linguist and philologist

• Barbara Pym (1913–1980), English novelist

Q
• Qiu Miaojin (邱妙津, 1969–1995), Taiwanese novelist

• Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859), English man of letters

• Raymond Queneau (1903–1976), French writer

R
• John Rabe (1882–1950), German diplomat and Nazi official

• Lillemor Rachlew (1902–1983), Norwegian Antarctic explorer

• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1925), President and later Prime Minister of Bangladesh

• Raiden Tameemon (雷電爲右衞門, 1767–1865), Japanese sumo wrestler

• Francisc Rainer (1874–1944), Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian pathologist and anthropologist

• Catherine Hester Ralfe (1831–1912), New Zealand dressmaker and teacher

• Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly (1913–2001), English secretary and diplomatic employee

• Ronald Reagan (1911–2004), 40th President of the United States

• Märta Helena Reenstierna (1753–1841), Swedish gentlewoman

• Wilhelm Reich (1897–1956), Austrian physician and psychoanalyst

• Charles à Court Repington (1858–1925), English military officer and war correspondent

• Nicolas-Edme Rétif (1734–1806), French novelist

• Charles Ritchie (1906–1995), Canadian diplomat

• Henry Crabb Robinson (1775–1887), English lawyer

• Gérard Rondeau (1953–2016), French photographer

• Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th President of the United States

• Ned Rorem (1923–2022), American composer

• Henry Rollins (born 1961), American singer for Black Flag

• Ingrid von Rosen (1930–1995), Swedish housewife

• Barbara Rosenthal (born 1948), American avant-garde New Media artist/writer/performer

• Radu R. Rosetti (1877–1949), Romanian general and military historian

• Everett Ruess (1914–1934), American artist, poet and explorer

• Peter Rühmkorf (1929–2008), German writer

• John Ruskin (1819–1900), English art critic and philanthropist

• Robert Russell (1808–1900), English-born Australian architect

• Dudley Ryder (1691–1756), English Lord Chief Justice (diary 1715–16)

S
• Jacques Sadoul (1881–1956), French lawyer, politician and writer

• María Sáez de Vernet (1800–1858), Argentine resident in the Falkland Islands

• Hakeem Muhammad Saeed (1920–1998), Indian/Pakistani medical researcher and philanthropist

• Robert de Saint-Jean (1901–1987), French writer and journalist

• Rubino Romeo Salmonì (1920–2011), Italian author and Holocaust survivor

• Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson (1786–1868), Argentine society hostess

• George Sand (1804–1876), French writer

• Marino Sanuto (1466–1536), Venetian historian

• May Sarton (1912–1995), American poet and novelist

• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), French writer and philosopher

• Rudy Sarzo (born 1950), Cuban-American rock bassist, notably of Ozzy Osbourne fame

• Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), English poet and author

• Eisaku Satō (佐藤榮作, 1901–1975), Japanese Prime Minister

• Tanya Savicheva (1930–1944), Soviet child in the World War II Siege of Leningrad

• Jules Schelvis (1921–2016), Dutch historian and Holocaust survivor

• Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917–2007), American historian and political adviser

• Norbert Schmelzer (1921–2008), Dutch Catholic politician and diplomat

• Frederik Schmidt (1771–1840), Danish-born Norwegian priest and poet

• Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912), English Antarctic explorer

• Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), Scottish novelist and poet

• Sei Shōnagon (清少納言, c. 966–1017 or 1025), Japanese court lady and writer

• George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish Nobel Prize-winning playwright

• Mary Shelley (1797–1851), English novelist and travel writer

• Betsy Sheridan (1758–1837), Irish writer, sister of the satirist Richard Brinsley Sheridan

• Robert Shields (1918–2007), American teacher

• Efim Shifrin (born 1956), Soviet/Russian actor and singer

• Michael Shiner (1805–1880), American freed slave and Navy Yard worker

• William L. Shirer (1904–1993), American journalist and contemporary historian

• Emily Shore (1819–1839), English young adult

• Malla Silfverstolpe (1782–1861), Swedish salon hostess

• Elizabeth Simcoe (1762–1850), English wife of Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada

• Ion Șiugariu (1914–1945), Romanian poet

• Nikki Sixx (born 1958), American bassist/songwriter for Mötley Crüe

• John Skinner (1772–1839), English cleric and antiquarian

• Philip Slier (1923–1943), Dutch typesetter and Holocaust victim

• Elizabeth Smart (born 1987), American abduction victim and broadcaster

• Konstantin Somov (1869–1939), Russian painter

• William Soutar (1898–1943), Scottish poet

• Alexander Brodie Spark (1792–1856), Scottish-born Australian merchant and settler

• Johan Gabriel Sparwenfeld (1655–1727), Swedish diplomat and linguist

• Stephen Spender (1909–1995), English poet

• Renia Spiegel (1924–1942), Polish Jewish Holocaust victim

• John Steinbeck (1902–1968), American novelist

• Nicolae Steinhardt (1912–1989), Romanian writer and monk

• Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle, 1783–1842), French novelist

• Frances Stevenson (1888–1972), English mistress and second wife of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George

• Margaret Stevenson (c. 1807–1874), English-born Australian satirist

• Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer

• Joseph Stilwell (1883–1946), American World War II general

• Joseph Stock (1740–1813), Irish Protestant bishop

• Constantin T. Stoika (1892–1916), Romanian poet, translator and army officer

• Gordon Stott, Lord Stott (1909–1999), Scottish advocate

• Richard Strauss (1864–1949), German composer

• George Templeton Strong (1820–1875), American lawyer

• Roy Strong (born 1935), English gardener and aesthete

• Sufia Kamal (1911–1999), Bangladeshi writer and political activist

• Sugawara no Takasue no musume (菅原孝標女, c. 1008 – after 1059), Japanese writer

• Sukemasa Irie (入江相政, 1905–1985), Japanese essayist and Grand Chamberlain of Japan

• Rosemary Sutcliff (1920–1992), English historical novelist for children and young adults

• John Swete (1752–1821), English cleric and artist

• Richard Symonds (1617–1660), English Civil War diaries

T
• Jun Takami (高見順, 1907–1965), Japanese novelist and poet

• Takizawa Bakin (曲亭馬琴, 1867–1948), Japanese gesaku writer

• Fanny Tarnow (1779–1862), German fiction and non-fiction writer

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), Russian composer

• Henry Teonge (1620–1690), English naval chaplain (diaries 1675–76 and 1678–79)

• Daniel Terdiman (living), American award-winning journalist

• Carl Tersmeden (1715–1797), Swedish admiral

• Kathleen Tipper (born 1919), English wartime clerk

• Mary Thomas (1787–1835), English-born Australian poet

• John Thomlinson (1692–1761), English cleric (diary 1717–1722)

• Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), American author and philosopher

• Hester Thrale (1740–1821), Welsh author, friend and confidante of Samuel Johnson

• Jean de Tinan (1874–1898), French writer

• Sophia Tolstaya (1844–1919), Russian wife of author Leo Tolstoy

• Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), Russian novelist and social reformer

• William Treloar (1843–1923), English haberdasher and Lord Mayor of London (diary 1906–1907)

• Govardhanram Tripathi (1855–1907), Indian Gujarati-language writer

• Melesina Trench (1768–1827), Irish writer and poet

• Anne Truitt (1921–2004), American artist

• Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), 33rd President of the United States

• Meta Truscott, (1917–2014), Australian chronicler and local historian (diaries 1934–2014)

• Mikhail Tsekhanovsky (1889–1965), Russian/Soviet artist and illustrator

• Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892–1941), Russian poet and writer

• George Albert Tuck (1884–1981), New Zealand builder and soldier

• Thomas Turner (1729–1793), English shopkeeper

• Anna Tyszkiewicz (1779–1867), Polish noblewoman

U
• Emperor Uda (宇多天皇, 866–931), Japanese Emperor

• Ida Hunt Udall (1858–1915), American homesteader

• Matome Ugaki (宇垣纏, 1890–1945), Japanese admiral

• Umewaka Minoru I (初世梅若実, 1828–1909), Japanese Noh actor

V
• Krishna Baldev Vaid (1927–2020), Indian fiction writer and playwright

• C. Raja Raja Varma (died 1905), Indian painter

• Marie Vassiltchikov (1917–1978), Russian princess involved in plot to kill Hitler

• Gerrit de Veer (c. 1570 – c. 1598), Dutch naval officer

• Queen Victoria (1819–1901), British queen and empress

• Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), French writer

• Léonie Villard (1890–1962), French critic and university professor

• Renée Vivien (1877–1909), French and English writer

• Alice Voinescu (1885–1961), Romanian writer, translator and university professor

W
• Cosima Wagner (1837–1930), German daughter of Franz Liszt, second wife of Richard Wagner

• Richard Wagner (1813–1873), German composer

• Alice Walker (born 1944), American author

• Jakob Walter (1788–1864), German soldier in the Napoleonic Wars

• Sabrina Ward Harrison (born 1975), Canadian artist and author

• Andy Warhol (1928–1987), American artist

• Mary Rich, Countess of Warwick (1625–1678), Irish maid of honour

• Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), English novelist

• Beatrice Webb (1858–1943), English sociologist and social reformer

• Simone Weil (1909–1943), French philosopher

• Gisela Weimann (born 1943), German multimedia artist

• Hermann Weinsberg (1518–1597), German city councilor in Cologne

• Johan Peter Weisse (1832–1886), Norwegian philologist

• Denton Welch (1915–1948), English writer and painter

• John Wesley (1703–1791), English theologian and founder of the Methodist movement

• Algernon West (1832–1921), English civil servant

• Alexander Whisker (1819–1907), New Zealand soldier

• Gilbert White (1720–1793), English naturalist and Anglican cleric

• Opal Whiteley (1897–1992), American naturalist and nature writer

• Margaret Whitlam (1919–2012), Australian Olympic swimmer, writer and social campaigner

• Dorothy Payne Whitney (1887–1968), American social activist and lecturer

• Elie Wiesel (1928–2016), Romanian-American author

• John Wilkes (1725–1797), English journalist and politician

• Kenneth Williams (1926–1988), English comic actor

• Charlotte Williams-Wynn (1807–1869), English gentlewoman

• Katherine Wilmot (c. 1773–1824), Irish traveller

• Edmund Wilson (1895–1972), American writer and critic

• Edward Adrian Wilson (1872–1912), English naturalist and Antarctic explorer

• Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet (1864–1922), English military officer

• William Windham (1750–1810), English statesman and orator

• Anna Green Winslow (1759–1780), American child diarist

• David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), American painter and performer

• Knut Getz Wold (1915–1987), Norwegian economist and civil servant

• Robert Woodford (1606–1664), English lawyer

• James Woodforde (1740–1803), English rural cleric

• Charles Woodmason (c. 1720–1789), American author, poet and loyalist (South Carolina journal late 1760s)

• Wilford Woodruff (1807–1898), 4th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), English author and feminist

• Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), English poet, sister of William Wordsworth

• Woodrow Wyatt (1918–1997), American politician and journalist

• Joan Wyndham (1921–2007), English memoirist

Y
• Yi Kyu-won (이규원, 1833–1901), Korean military official

• Yi sun-sin (1545–1598)

• Zina D. H. Young (1821–1901), American President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Relief Society

Z
• Mircea Zaciu (1928–2000), Romanian critic and literary historian

• Zheng Xiaoxu (1860–1938), Chinese politician, poet and calligrapher

• Stefan Żeromski (1864–1925), Polish novelist and dramatist

• Polina Zherebtsova (born 1985), Russian Chechen documentarian and poet

• Karl von Zinzendorf (1739–1813), Saxon Austrian civil servant

• A. L. Zissu (1888–1956), Romanian writer and Jewish spokesman

• Ludwik Żychliński (1837–1901), Polish military officer

• Teodor Żychliński (1830–1909), Polish herald and author

Diaries of disputed authenticity

 * The Black Diaries purportedly written by Roger Casement and detailing his alleged homosexual activities, are believed by some to be a forgery perpetrated by the British government.