With an introduction by Margo Jefferson


‘Saturday 20th March 1926. What is to become of all these diaries?… I daresay there is a little book in them, if the scraps & scratches were straightened out a little’

These ‘scraps & scratches’, exactly as Woolf wrote them, are part of what make these diaries such an exhilarating and timeless account of the inner life of a writer. Between 1915 (when she was 33) to the end of her life in 1941, Woolf kept a fairly regular journal, recording both the activities of her daily life, the weather and the world around her, as well as her observations on art, literature, politics and people. At times, these entries read like initial sketches for her published works; at others, they have the intimacy and candour of a letter to a friend; and always, they offer a dash of quicksilver impressions that capture the texture of her existence in that particular moment. Since they were first published over 40 years ago, these volumes have taken on the status of classics. These new Granta editions will be unexpurgated for the first time, and each one will feature a specially-commissioned introduction from a contemporary novelist.