This overview of creativity as theory, research and practice defies the repeated cry that the term is indefinable and unhelpful as a concept: its subtext is that, however we perceive or interpret the term, creativity is significant for researchers, teachers and classrooms, and it is high time we arrived at some shared explanations as to what it really means. ‘Creativity’ is well-served inside and outside the ELT profession by publications which tend to take one of three perspectives: creativity research, history and theory, such as Kaufman and Sternberg (2010) and the panoramic Pope (2005); publications in which creative teachers explain and share their best practice, such as Maley and Peachey (2015); and publications that offer practical creative activities, such as Wright (2014) and Pugliese (2010). What is less easy to find is a publication such as this one, which does all three, and which interrogates painstakingly the join between them.