Diaries of Note

An engrossing collection of the most remarkable diary writing - by the famous, infamous and everyman alike - curated by the creator of the globally bestselling Letters of Note.
What is more intimate than the diary? Across human history, people have kept these repositories of their most unvarnished truths, poignant hopes, hidden desires and deepest fears. In Diaries of Note, Shaun Usher collects 366 captivating diary entries, each with a different author.
The diary welcomes all to its pages. Here we encounter reflections from world leaders, artists, scientists, writers and icons of film and music - including Albert Einstein, Virginia Woolf, Emma Thompson, Teddy Roosevelt, Maya Angelou and Louis Theroux - alongside those who were never illuminated by fame, but whose writings reveal them as extraordinary. Beautifully illustrated, this book is a testament to the power of personal narratives, reflecting and encapsulating our deepest, and often most secret, emotions.

Shaun Usher's obsession with old-fashioned correspondence began when he fell in love with his future wife, Karina, by letter in 2002. This ultimately led to the 2009 launch of Letters of Note, an online museum of 'correspondence deserving of a wider audience', which to date has been visited more than 100 million times. In 2013, the first Letters of Note book was published to wide acclaim. It soon became an international bestseller and inspired Letters Live, a star-studded live show in which letters are brought to life on stage. After years of preparation, his latest project, Diaries of Note, launched online on 1 January 2023 and commenced a daily dive into the lives of others, as recorded in their private moments.