Definition of "memorialist"

The impediment comes in Mr. McCann’s effort to fashion a novel out of a search; in this case his diligent immersion in the work of scholars, the writings of Romany (now a preferred term) poets and memorialists, and his studies and travels in Slovakia, where much of the book is set.

2007 January 8, Richard Eder, “Ultimate Exile: A Gypsy Poet Expelled by Her People”, in New York Times‎