Tommy O’Rourke is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Fence, Hobart, Tesserae Press, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of the Teach! Write! Play! Fellowship from the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and the Jesse H. Cochran Memorial Award from Butler University.

His writing explores memory, translation, and the intersections of art, philosophy, and the city.

O’Rourke earned a BA in English from Butler University and an MAT with distinction from Relay Graduate School. After living in Prague and Vienna—where he taught English, translated German Expressionist poetry, and studied literature and philosophy at the University of Vienna—he returned to Chicago, where he teaches literature at The Noble Academy. He has been a Cultivate Fellow at the University of Chicago and has participated in the Exeter Humanities Institute. He is currently an MFA candidate in the Writing Seminars at Bennington College.

Also active as a DJ, O’Rourke holds a residency at Lemon, a live music venue on Chicago’s west side.