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.
Towards the end of the seventies, she moved with her husband Eoin Bourke and her three children to Galway in the West of Ireland, where Eoin held the position of professor of German Literature at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Her translations of Irish poets into German appeared among others in the journals Die Horen, Akzente and in the anthology Grand Tour.
She received a number of awards, among others the Michael Hartnett Prize for Poetry, in 2020.