In the 1930s N. Ognev, the author of Kostya Ryabtsev’s Diary, takes part in the activities of the Union of Writers, reviews the manuscripts of emerging authors, hosts a literary club, develops ideas on how to restructure the work of the writers’ union. In the records and marginal notes a didactic intonation is discernible. For the first time the materials of N. Ognev’s archive are introduced into scientific discourse.