The specifics of the diary as a genre of literature is considered. An attempt is made to understand the genre nature of the diary and identify the characteristic features of its narrative structure. Turning to the diary entries of Bakhyt Kairbekov, we analyze the subspecies of the diary as a genre and pose the question of the intertextual specifics of the poet’s diaries. We reveal such characteristic features of the narrative structure of diaries as chronology, dating, aphorism, dialogics, evaluation. It is proved that the specific form of the diary is one of the individual style of a artistic person who realizes his abilities in various fields of artistic work. We establish that the diary form of writing is characterized by a number of features that can be implemented to a greater or lesser extent in each diary: 1) the frequency, regularity of recordings; 2) the relationship of records with current, and not with long-past events; 3) the spontaneous nature of the records; 4) literary rawness of records; 5) addresslessness or uncertainty of the addressee; 6) the intimate and therefore sincere, private nature of the notes.