Why I kept a teen diary

The Conversation

What do Audre Lorde, Pamela Anderson and Florence Nightingale all have in common? They all began writing diaries as young girls and remained seasoned diarists later in life. But what purpose does keeping a diary as a teenager serve? And what can reflecting on the intimate accounts our younger selves wrote, tell us about who we are today and the changing world around us?

Ifedayo Agoro is a Nigerian entrepreneur who began writing a diary at the age of eleven. The habit began after she got into trouble at school, and wrote her mother a letter to explain what had happened. As punishment, her mother asked Ifedayo to pen a letter every week in a diary, and Ifedayo documented life as a young girl in the Shogunle neighbourhood of Lagos. This punishment soon became a joy and in 2015 Ifedayo wrote an anonymous online diary called Diary Of A Naija Girl. Five years later, she put her name to the diary and it now has 740,000 followers on Instagram.

Sophie Duker is a British comedian and writer. She is currently touring Europe with her stand-up show, But Daddy I Love Her, inspired by the concept of delusion. Sophie began writing an online diary at the age of 14, capturing matters of emotional significance such as her parent’s divorce, her father moving from the UK and her first encounter with grief. These profound milestones are interwoven with the everyday highs and lows of being a British teenager: crushes on the Harry Potter cast and encounters with school bullies.

Produced by Elena Angelides and Jane Thurlow

Image: (L) Ifedayo Agoro credit Buklaw Photography. (R) Sophie Duker credit Sarah Harry-Isaacs.)