Available May 4, 2027
The Afterparty
An Open Invitation to Sobriety
A memoir about addiction, identity, queer life, mental health, and the unexpected joy of finding your way back to yourself.
In print, ebook, and audiobook formats
Book details
Come as you are
- Author
- Brian Larson
- Publication date
- May 4, 2027
- Publisher
- Broadleaf Books
- ISBN
- 9798341902596
- Formats
- Print, ebook, and audiobook
- Category
- Memoir
The Afterparty is a candid, compassionate, and refreshingly funny memoir about what happens after you stop drinking and begin meeting yourself without the buffer.
Brian Larson entered sobriety hoping for clarity, control, and an uncomplicated fresh start. What he found was something messier and more meaningful: grief, mental health questions, shifting relationships, unexpected joy, and the chance to reconstruct a life around who he actually was.
Writing from his experience as a gay man who did not always see himself reflected in traditional recovery narratives, Brian explores the unglamorous, tender, and occasionally absurd realities of life after alcohol. The result is neither a rigid recovery program nor a celebration of perfection. It is an open invitation to anyone who is sober, sober-curious, or wondering whether life could feel different.
Advance praise
The guest list is growing
“A comprehensive and compassionate guide to recovery. Brian’s story is one you won't forget and his advice is clear-eyed and kind in equal measure, the work of a writer who deeply cares about the person on the other side of the page.”
Malala YousafzaiNew York Times bestselling author of I Am Malala and Finding My WayPhoto: Rinaldo Sata“Brian Larson has written the sobriety book I wish someone had slipped under my door years ago. It’s honest, hilarious, deeply compassionate, and refreshingly free of sanctimony. The Afterparty tells the truth: getting sober can save your life, but first it may make you cry in public, inhale Swedish candy, and wonder what the hell to do with your hands at parties. Larson is the smart, funny, queer recovery guide we desperately need: someone who understands that sobriety isn’t the end of the party. It’s finally showing up for your own life.”
Lara Love HardinNew York Times bestselling author of The Many Lives of Mama Love“As a fellow queer person in recovery, I know how often alcohol is woven into our idea of belonging. This book is a brave, beautiful look at what happens when we stop chasing acceptance at the bottom of a glass. It will help so many people realize they deserve a life that’s fuller than anything alcohol ever promised.”
Misha BrownNew York Times bestselling author of Be Your Own Bestie“The Afterparty is a deeply honest and emotionally resonant exploration of sobriety, identity, and what it means to come home to yourself. More than a book about quitting alcohol, it compassionately explores belonging, trauma, healing, and the ways we learn to survive discomfort. Brian Larson makes these tools and practices feel accessible through a fresh narrative voice, offering readers new pathways back into their body, to rebuild self-trust, and to create a life beyond shame.”
Dr. Nicole LePeraAuthor of the #1 New York Times bestsellers How to Do the Work, How to Be the Love You Seek, and Reparenting the Inner Child“You don’t need to share Brian Larson’s exact story to be moved by The Afterparty. This is a book about addiction, yes, but also shame, self-worth, queer becoming, family, friendship, and the wild relief of telling the truth. It’s vulnerable, funny, and beautifully human.”
Lukas GageActor and author of I Wrote This for AttentionPhoto: Sebastián Faena“Beautifully and tenderly written, The Afterparty draws its power from Brian’s remarkable vulnerability. Brian takes great care of the reader through sharing his own story of survivorship. This book is a testament to how you can go through hard things and ultimately find your way back home to yourself. Whether you are at the start of your healing and recovery journey, or well along the way, The Afterparty is a must-read.”
Amanda NguyenNew York Times bestselling author of Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope, first Vietnamese woman astronaut, 2022 TIME Woman of the Year, and Nobel Peace Prize nomineePhoto: Duke Winn“Charmingly funny, quietly wise and fully unguarded. The Afterparty proves the best stories about getting sober are the ones without pretense that refuse to be tidy. Brian Larson writes like your smartest friend at 2 a.m.: no judgment, all truth.”
Eliot GlazerActor (Broad City), comedian, and author of The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad GayPhoto: Sela Shiloni“What struck me the most about The Afterparty, other than the thoughtful and engaging interludes, was how much it expanded my narrow view of what alcoholism, or ‘a struggle with drinking,’ or ‘rock bottom’ could look like. Larson does a beautiful job of expanding the dialogue around alcohol and sobriety so it touches each of us, including and especially, I think, the sober-curious. I have no doubt this book will do good work in our society; it has definitely done so in me.”
Dr. Kemi DollAuthor of A Terrible Strength: The Hidden Crisis of the Black Womb & Your Survival Guide to Healing“Brian Larson has written a stunningly honest and deeply accessible book about identity, connection, self-worth, and what it means to rebuild a life that actually feels like your own. The Afterparty is intimate without ever feeling heavy-handed, insightful without ever becoming preachy, and alive with the humor and candor of a conversation with your smartest bestie.”
Kerry DochertyCo-founder of Faherty Brand and author of Selfish: Unlearning, Reclaiming, and Telling the TruthPhoto: Matt CatalanoFor readers
Read it together
The Afterparty invites conversations about identity, alcohol, friendship, mental health, intimacy, and the stories we inherit about what makes a life fun or meaningful.
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