After Party

A Poetry Book Society RecommendationA Sunday Times, Telegraph and Irish Times Book of the YearWinner of the Pigott Poetry Prize in association with Listowel Writersâ WeekWinner of the Farmgate Caf© National Poetry Award 2026Shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize 2026Dean Browne arrives at the After Party with the maturity and style of an altogether more seasoned poet. In a debut collection of standout and stand-alone poems, each tests the boundaries of its unique universe. Browne is a mesmeric teller of strange tales, imaginings that can seem origamically contained within the compressed dimensions of a poem. A leg sets off on a long train journey; a Parisian alley cat is launched into space; earthbound lovers attempt to connect while their inner lives prove unbridgeable. Losses are mourned: two poets elegized here â" Charles Simic and the late Donegal poet Matthew Sweeney â" might offer a fingerpost of sensibilities, though Browneâs significant talent is distinctly his own. After Party introduces a beguiling, resonant new voice, a raised eyebrow and fidelity to the image â" sometimes carried along the tightrope much further than seems possible. In poems that are both death-haunted and youthful, and thrumming with a delicious dark humour, Dean Browne brings a much-needed injection of the surreal â" or the surreal-ish as he might prefer to say â" to Irelandâs rising generation. 'Wildly expressive and exuberant, throwing out phrases and ideas almost recklessly. . . After Party is surely the start of an exceptional poetic career' â" Graeme Richardson, Sunday Times Books of the YearâPoems that sneak in the side-door then exit through the ceilingâ â" Caroline Bird'The success of this Cork-based 31-year-old is by no means a surprise . . . But itâs still refreshing to encounter such a distilled, haunting voice' â" Telegraph, Books of the YearâDean Browne is a terrific poet: his language is agile and fresh, his ideas surprising, and the reader feels invigorated, renewed â" and lucky to have met such poemsâ â" Nick Laird