# List of diarists

This is an international list of diarists who have Wikipedia pages and whose journals have been published.
* A
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* N
* O
* P
* Q
* R
* S
* T
* U
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z

## 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.
* Ethel Bilbrough (1868–1951), English First World War diarist and artist
* 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
* Arthur Bremer (born 1950), American attempted assassin of George Wallace
* 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
* Chester Gillette (1883–1908), American murderer
* 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
* Frances Dallam Peter (1843–1864), United States Civil War diarist
* 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
* Alan Rickman (1946–2016), English actor and director
* 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
* 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.