‘Diaries are places where truths are confessed and dreams are woven.’
To celebrate the upcoming publication of Diaries of Note, here’s a chance to win a luxury diary and ink pen to write your own diary entries.
Anyone who has pre-ordered Diaries of Note and is UK-based can enter to win. Just send your proof of purchase (such as a receipt or an order email) from any retailer to [email protected] by 8 October. Some more details are below. Good luck! ✍️
The winner will only be contacted via the email address they provide. Entrants must be 18 or over and resident in the UK. Competition closes at 23.59 on 8 October 2025. One winner (who will receive a luxury diary and ink pen) will be chosen at random on or after 9 October 2025.
What is more intimate than the diary? ✍️
Across human history, people have kept records 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, 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.
Diaries of Note: 366 Lives, One Day at a Time, coming this October.
Cover by Pete Adlington @designbyfaber 🎨
#diariesofnote #lettersofnote
Today we’re reading about Decembers past in Diaries of Note:
‘RAIN. GUNFIRE. BOREDOM, HOMESICK, LOVESICK.’ Spike Milligan (5 December, 1942)
‘Bed is the most auspicious place — the only place to get your bearings.’ Elizabeth Smart (10 December, 1933)
‘The prospect of Christmas appalls me and I look forward to the operating theatre as a happy release.’ Evelyn Waugh (23 December 1946)
Diaries of Note is a collection of the world’s most remarkable diary entries, a journey through different lives, eras and places that is ‘completely fascinating and inspiring. Completely addictive.’ (Stephen Fry). Out now 📖✍️
THE CULTURE SECTION: Shaun Usher
Diaries of Note
In this talk, Shaun Usher - creator of @lettersofnote and the acclaimed show @letterslive where actors including Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman bring history’s most remarkable letters to life - shares his latest project, @diariesofnote
Exploring 366 diary entries from people across time and place - from Frida Kahlo and Nelson Mandela to anonymous writers whose words are no less extraordinary - Shaun invites us to peer into the private pages of history.
These intimate reflections capture the humour, heartbreak and humanity of everyday life, revealing how even our most personal words can resonate across centuries.
Shaun’s lifelong fascination with correspondence began when he fell in love with his wife, Karina, by letter - a passion that has since evolved into books, exhibitions, and live performances that celebrate the written word in all its forms.
📍Sunday Papers Live, B&H Buildings, EC1
🗓️ Next Sunday 2nd November
🎟️ via sundaypaperslive.com
On this day in 2001, it was playwright Simon Gray's 65th birthday.
(The whole entry, which is fantastic, can be found in the Diaries of Note book which is out now in all respectable bookshops. Link in bio for online stockists.)
The launch event for Diaries of Note last night was fantastic. Eternal thanks to all who came along and made it so very special – the readers, the audience, everyone backstage. I had a ball and thoroughly enjoyed talking about the value and power of diaries, about cryptic masturbation tallies, about Orwell's wartime egg counts, about the amusing juxtaposition of the mundane and the momentous, and everything else. We had @mslouisebrealey as Charlotte Brontë ripping into her students; @ferdosnandos as the one and only Adrian Mole; Bridget Jones brought to life by her creator @helenfielding ; @mattberrymusic becoming Alan Bennett if only for a couple of minutes; @sirtonyrobinson as Kafka being wrestled to the ground by a neighbour; and so much more. I loved it, and I hope you did too. Please buy the book!
(Photos: @capturedbycorinne )
‘Completely addictive. You’ll say to yourself “just one more” and before you know it you’ve read the whole collection.’ Stephen Fry
Out today in hardback, Diaries of Note by @shaunusher is an engrossing collection of 366 diary entries – from the famous, infamous and everyman alike.
Swipe to see which five diary entries have made it onto our Farringdon billboard for publication ✍️
