diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/WriterT.scala b/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/WriterT.scala
index e1edf6e620..a5b5ed0d96 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/WriterT.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/WriterT.scala
@@ -3,8 +3,12 @@ package data
 
 import cats.kernel.instances.tuple._
 import cats.functor.{Bifunctor, Contravariant}
+import cats.syntax.semigroup._
 
 final case class WriterT[F[_], L, V](run: F[(L, V)]) {
+  def tell(l: L)(implicit functorF: Functor[F], semigroupL: Semigroup[L]): WriterT[F, L, V] =
+    mapWritten(_ |+| l)
+
   def written(implicit functorF: Functor[F]): F[L] =
     functorF.map(run)(_._1)
 
@@ -244,6 +248,8 @@ private[data] sealed trait WriterTMonadWriter[F[_], L] extends MonadWriter[Write
 
   def pass[A](fa: WriterT[F, L, (L => L, A)]): WriterT[F, L, A] =
     WriterT(F0.flatMap(fa.value) { case (f, a) => F0.map(fa.written)(l => (f(l), a)) })
+
+  override def tell(l: L): WriterT[F, L, Unit] = WriterT.tell(l)
 }
 
 private[data] sealed trait WriterTSemigroupK[F[_], L] extends SemigroupK[WriterT[F, L, ?]] {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/package.scala b/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/package.scala
index a3cfa3edb6..f2b54b3368 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/package.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/cats/data/package.scala
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ package object data {
   type Writer[L, V] = WriterT[Id, L, V]
   object Writer {
     def apply[L, V](l: L, v: V): WriterT[Id, L, V] = WriterT[Id, L, V]((l, v))
+
+    def value[L:Monoid, V](v: V): Writer[L, V] = WriterT.value(v)
+
+    def tell[L](l: L): Writer[L, Unit] = WriterT.tell(l)
   }
 
   type State[S, A] = StateT[Eval, S, A]
diff --git a/tests/src/test/scala/cats/tests/WriterTTests.scala b/tests/src/test/scala/cats/tests/WriterTTests.scala
index b3f7630403..e176cb2718 100644
--- a/tests/src/test/scala/cats/tests/WriterTTests.scala
+++ b/tests/src/test/scala/cats/tests/WriterTTests.scala
@@ -70,6 +70,25 @@ class WriterTTests extends CatsSuite {
     writerT.show should === ("(List(Some log message),foo)")
   }
 
+  test("tell appends to log") {
+    val w1: Writer[String, Int] = Writer.value(3)
+    val w2 = w1.tell("foo")
+    w2 should === (Writer("foo", 3))
+    w2.tell("bar") should === (Writer("foobar", 3))
+  }
+
+  test("MonadWriter's tell is consistent with WriterT's tell") {
+    type Logged[A] = Writer[String, A]
+    val w = MonadWriter[Logged, String]
+    val x = w.tell("foo")
+    x should === (Writer.tell("foo"))
+    x should === (Writer("foo", ()))
+  }
+
+  test("tell instantiates a Writer") {
+    Writer.tell("foo").written should === ("foo")
+  }
+
   {
     // F has a SemigroupK
     implicit val F: SemigroupK[ListWrapper] = ListWrapper.semigroupK