Penelope Hanley delves into the papers of 22 well-known Australian literary and artistic figures and gives us an insight into their creative lives--their feelings and foibles, their fears and triumphs. These writers' and artists' papers are held at the National Library of Australia and contain the stories told in Creative Lives--stories about convict James Tucker's gruesome floggings; Henry Lawson's sporadic imprisonment and alcoholism; Judy Cassab's outwitting of the Nazis; the shock discovery that Patrick White had not destroyed his papers, despite his insistence to the contrary; and the attempted sueing of Thomas Keneally for plagiarism. Creative Lives is generously illustrated with personal photographs, sketches and paintings, diaries and drafts, and cards and letters--neatly typed or scrawled and claret-stained.