After the Off is a collaborative book from Dewi Lewis Publishing, first published in 1999. It pairs photography by Bruce Gilden with a story by Dermot Healy, described by the publisher as one of Ireland’s leading contemporary writers and a poet, playwright, short-story writer and novelist. The publisher presents the volume as a unique collaboration between two artists, and the credits confirm two distinct roles: Gilden as photographer and Healy as author of the story.

The book is set in rural Ireland, against the background of the on-course gambling that operates at the many local race meetings held throughout the country. In this setting, Gilden’s intense black-and-white portraits are combined with Healy’s atmospheric storytelling. The publisher describes the result as a work that brings together powerful portraiture and vividly atmospheric narrative, and the independent catalog description likewise characterizes it as a synthesis in which the direct and the surreal coexist.

The physical book is substantial: a hardcover of 120 pages, measuring 245mm by 330mm according to the publisher. The publisher’s listing notes 55 duotones. These production details indicate a large-format photobook in which images and text are given considerable space. The publisher does not describe the sequencing or layout beyond this, so the reader’s experience of how photographs and story interact rests on the collaboration itself and on the book’s stated combination of portraits and narrative.

For readers interested in documentary and portrait photography, the volume is notable for its specific pairing: a photographer known for powerful black-and-white work and an acclaimed Irish writer, working together on a subject drawn from rural Irish life. The publisher positions the book as a collaboration between two artists, and that framing, supported by the credits, is the clearest guide to what the book sets out to do.