Though only three volumes were published, Starlight was the most significant original anthology series from the late 1990s to the opening of the 21st century. Calling short fiction "the R&D laboratory" in which SF reinvents itself, Nielsen Hayden's introduction to volume 1 signals openness to the widest range of stories, including "science-by-god fiction, blatant fantasy, 'magic realism,' and who knows what else." The first volume was published in simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback editions; the second and third were hardcovers with later trade paperback editions.

Stories from the three books won four Hugo and Nebula awards. Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" won a Nebula (and also a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award), his "Hell Is the Absence of God" won both the Nebula and Hugo, and Jane Yolen's "Sister Emily's Spaceship" won a Nebula.

Other notable stories are Raphael Carter's "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N. Sirsi and Sandra Botkin" (a Tiptree winner), Andy Duncan's "Senator Bilbo," Gregory Feeley's "The Weighing of Ayre" (a Sturgeon third-placer), John M. Ford's "Erase/Record/Play" (a Nebula and Sturgeon finalist), Maureen F. McHugh's "The Cost to Be Wise" (a Hugo and Nebula finalist), and Michael Swanwick's "The Dead" (Hugo, Nebula, and Tiptree finalist).

Starlight 1 won the World Fantasy Award for best anthology.

Susanna Clarke appears in all three volumes; eight others appear in two volumes each.