Late Alan Rickman's 'witty, gossipy and utterly candid' diaries to be published in 2022

The late actor - who passed away in 2016 after being diagnosed with cancer - began writing his diaries in the 1990s and had 27 handwritten volumes by the time he died.

Rickman's diaries have been acquired by Canongate and they will be published as a single volume in two years time.

The Diaries of Alan Rickman will be edited by Alan Taylor, editor of the Scottish Review of Books.

Rima Horton, Rickman's widow, told The Guardian: "I'm delighted that Canongate will be publishing Alan's diaries, and couldn't have wished for a finer appointment of editor than Alan.

"The diaries reveal not just Alan Rickman the actor, but the real Alan - his sense of humour, his sharp observation, his craftsmanship and his devotion to the arts."

Taylor added that the diaries are "anecdotal, indiscreet, witty, gossipy and utterly candid, they make compulsive reading and offer a peerless insight into the daily life of a remarkable actor who was as beloved in the US as he surely was in the UK."

Canongate said: "More than anything, the diaries reveal the real Alan Rickman, funny, passionate, occasionally provocative, and give fresh insight into his art. He wrote his diaries as if chatting with a close friend. They provide pitch-perfect vignettes: short, pithy paragraphs painting big pictures, and offering intriguing insights into himself, his peers and the world around him. They are intimate, perceptive and very funny."

The diaries will provide behind-the-scenes stories of Rickman's movies, including insight into the Harry Potter set, where he worked between 2001 and 2011.