His books include the short story collection Everyday, the novels The Canal (winner of The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize in 2010),[1] Vulgar Things, and Glitch, and the poetry collections Varroa Destructor and Vantablack.
From 2012 to 2014, he was Writer-in-Residence at Kingston University, where he later lectured in the MFA Programme in creative writing and critical theory.
Rourke's work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including Best British Short Stories 2011 (ed.
Nicholas Royle, Salt Publishing, 2011), Best European Fiction (ed.
Aleksandar Hemon, Dalkey Archive Press, 2011) and The Beat Anthology (ed.