{{Short description|English writer and literary critic}} {{Multiple issues| {{BLP sources|date=June 2018}} {{Undisclosed paid|pre16Jun2014=yes|date=November 2020}} }} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Lee Rourke | image = | imagesize = 60 | caption = Lee Rourke | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1972 | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Novelist, Literary Critic | nationality = British | period = 2002–present | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = ''Vulgar Things'', ''Varroa Destructor'', ''The Canal'', ''Everyday'', ''A Brief History of Fables: From Aesop to Flash Fiction'' | influences = | influenced = | website = }}'''Lee Rourke''' (born 1972) is an English writer and literary critic. His books include the short story collection ''Everyday'', the novels ''The Canal'' (winner of ''The Guardian’s'' Not the Booker Prize in 2010),<ref>{{cite news |author=Sam Jordison |date=2010-10-12 |title='Not The Booker Prize': The Guardian Awards Lee Rourke And Matthew Hooton |work=Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/not-booker-guardian_n_759451 |access-date=2020-11-08}}</ref> ''Vulgar Things'', and ''Glitch'', and the poetry collections ''Varroa Destructor'' and ''Vantablack''.
==Career== Rourke is a contributing editor at ''3:AM Magazine'', has a literary column at the ''New Humanist'', and has written regularly for ''The Guardian'', ''The Times Literary Supplement'', ''Bookforum'', ''The Independent'', and the ''New Statesman''.
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. After leaving Kingston University, he taught creative writing at the University of East London and Middlesex University. He currently lives in Leigh-on-Sea, England.
==Work==
===Novels===
* ''Glitch'' - an unflinching study of grief. * ''Vulgar Things'' - part mystery, part romance, part odyssey novel. * ''The Canal'' - boredom, technology, violence.
===Short stories===
''Everyday'' is a set of short stories based in the heart of London.
===Poetry===
Rourke has published two poetry collections: ''Varroa Destructor'', published in 2013 by 3:AM Press, and ''Vantablack'', published in 2020 by Dostoevsky Wannabe.
===Anthologies===
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. by Sean McGahey, Blackheath Books, 2010).
===Non-Fiction===
* ''A Brief History of Fables: From Aesop to Flash Fiction'' is published by Hesperus Press. * ''Trying To Fit a Number to a Name: The Essex Estuary'' Lee Rourke (author), Tim Burrows (author) is published by Influx Press.
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://leerourke.com/ Lee Rourke Homepage] * [http://indigestmag.com/blog/?p=8689 Lee Rourke reads from The Canal] on the InDigest podcast
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rourke, Lee}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century English novelists Category:1972 births Category:Academics of Kingston University Category:Academics of Middlesex University Category:Academics of the University of East London Category:Writers from London Category:English male novelists Category:21st-century English male writers