Building on the success of The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories, The Mammoth Book of Lesbian Short Stories collects an international array of the best-known lesbian authors and new talents. Few of the stories have been anthologized before, and some have been specially commissioned for this work.

With its focus on new writing, editor and author Emma Donoghue has gathered stories from such writers as Dorothy Allison, Patricia Dunker, Tanith Lee, Jennifer Levin, Anna Livia, Ingrid Macdonald, Sara Maitland, Shani Mootoo, Elizabeth Taylor, Shay Youngblood, and many others. This global list of contributors draws from America, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Addressing issues from cultural confusion and coming out to adult relationships and eroticism, these stories' genres range from naturalism to magical realism, historical settings to postmodern fiction.