Rita Welty Bourke

Avandia Still on Market: Shame on You, FDA

Three years ago I was on a shuttle bus headed into downtown London from Heathrow airport. I felt awful. When you’ve spent the night in a cramped seat on an overnight flight from the U.S., you’d kill for a few hours sleep. But you know you have to stay awake for the next 12 hours; [...]

Posted at 10am on 7/23/10 | 1 comment | Filed Under: Current Events, FDA, The Political Scene, Welty Family Stories | Read on ›

Oil Spill In the Gulf

We were on our way to Gulf Shores, Alabama, when we heard the news: BP had been able to place a 75 ton cap on the blown-out Deep Horizon well. For the first time in nearly three months, oil was no longer gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. We’d rented a condo for the weekend [...]

Posted at 6am on 7/20/10 | No comments | Filed Under: BP Oil Spill, Current Events, Environment, The American Worker, The Political Scene, Welty Family Stories | Read on ›

About

Rita Welty Bourke has published over forty pieces of fiction and non-fiction in literary magazines including The North American Review, Cimarron Review, Louisiana Literature, Shenandoah, Witness, and the Black Warrior Review. One of her stories, Gunnison Beach, has been included in an anthology entitled Naked compiled by Susan Zakin. Five have been nominated for Pushcart prizes.

Ms. Bourke was a semi-finalist in the Faulkner Words & Music Literary Contest for Novel-in-Progress in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She was a finalist in America’s Best Short Fiction Contest in 1994.

She wrote and edited narratives that provide historical context for songs on the recently released 3 CD set entitled This Is My America.

Ms. Bourke is currently at work on a historical novel. The story centers around a ”heart balm” lawsuit that rocked a small Maryland town in 1912.

Rita Bourke is married to the songwriter, Rory Bourke, and has three daughters: Allyson, Kelley, and Leslie. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.