Bourke was born in Germany but has lived for much of her life in Galway, Ireland. She studied German Literature and History of Art at the University of Munich. She has had five volumes of her own work published, as well as publications as Editor and translator. She is a member of Aosdána. She was Editor of the Writing in the West supplement of the Connacht Tribune for six years, and for over a decade has participated in the Galway Writer's Workshop. She lectures on contemporary Irish poetry in Austria, Hungary, Germany, the United States and Ireland. As of 2011, she is editing a German translation of a collection of the poet Friedrich Hoelderlin.
