It’s an old and time-worn phrase, but nothing describes editors Tash Aw and Nii Ayikwei Parkes’s new anthology of stories so much, nor so well, as ‘labour of love’.

X-24: unclassified, published by  tiny imprint lubin & kleyner, heroically brings together the work of fifteen emerging writers from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some of them have been (or are about to be) published, others appear here in print for the very first time. The majority come from non-Anglo-American backgrounds; at least half do not live in London; and 90% of the stories are by women. These, however, are all minor points; what is most important is that each story in this anthology has earned its place on merit alone.

To celebrate the launch of X-24, a group of friends, families and short story enthusiasts gathered in the Barbican Library to hear five of the authors read from their stories. Nii Parkes explained that he knew he wanted to work with his co-editor after reading one of Tash’s stories, which featured a banana. "Once you write a short story with food in it, I’m interested." Happily, their collaboration has, to coin a phrase, borne fruit.

Over the next hour, the audience heard about a pervy newsagent, some slippery eels, a pre-Colombian statue and a nightmarish summer camp in Wales. But first Clare Wigfall whisked us back to 1870 and the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

After adjusting the height of the microphone ("I only remembered to do that halfway through my first reading") Clare talked about her story. Ostensibly the tale of a glass-eye maker and his listless young wife, 'The Ocularist’s Wife' is also about the way in which people voyeuristically wait to hear the awful news that war inevitably brings. Clare explained that the parallels between the aftermath of the attack on the Twin Towers, which took place while she was writing the story, were unavoidable and affected her writing.

'The Ocularist’s Wife' is one of 17 stories in Clare’s debut collection, The Loudest Sound and Nothing, which will be published by Faber in September.

Niki Aguirre, the second reader of the evening, also publishes a collection later this year. Her story, 'The Little Man', was inspired by a visit to the Chicago Field Museum. Wandering among the exhibits, she came across a statue encased on his own in a room with nothing around him. The only information stated that he had been found blindfolded under six feet of dirt. From this encounter, Niki weaved a funny yet sinister story about a middle-aged man's attempt to educate, then hold onto, the beautiful Veronica.

'The Sacrifice' is Gaylene Gould’s first-ever published story. Clearly delighted to have been included in X-24, Gaylene – with a glint in her eye – told the audience how excited she was when the book arrived in the post. After reading and rereading her story, she decided that it was "brilliant". Then she read the other stories in the collection and could only think "I wish I could be like you [the other authors] one day."

Her modesty is misplaced, though. 'The Sacrifice', based on an episode from the Sean Connery film The First Great Train Robbery, is a spirited story about a group of teenagers from a children's home who plan to exploit the local newsagent’s penchant for schoolgirls for their own gain.

Feisty young people are also the subject of Julia Bell’s story about a Welsh summer camp.  Exasperated by her daughter’s reluctance to accept her new boyfriend, Janet’s mother sends her to Urdd Gobaith Cymry, ‘the club that is the hope of Wales’. Hilariously conjuring up what was supposed to pass for fun in "the age before health and safety", Julia’s story also takes a nice swipe at the English founders of the state education system who banned Welsh children from speaking their native language at school.

Listening to Claire Sharland’s work was always the high point of Tash Aw’s MA classes at UEA, he explained. "She was one of the few bright sources of inspiration among a tide of ungoodness."  'Eel Stew', Claire said, was inspired by several ideas colliding and mulling: a fascination with the creatures (which her friend’s mother used to boil alive), a series of photographs by Francesca Woodman (who killed herself at the age of 21), and a dressmaker’s dummy in a Parisian window. It is a brooding tale of bereavement and love, set in the bleak fenlands of eastern England.

Here then are new writers to savour and look out for in the future. Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Tash Aw – with some financial help from Arts Council England – are to be applauded for compiling this anthology. Now they just need to make some time to carry on writing their own novels …

(James Smith, July 2007)

> View all Short Story features