Worgul moved to
Kansas City in 1989, and worked for
The Kansas City Star newspaper as a writer, book and features editor, and editor of
Star Magazine from 1996 to 2006. He was previously editor of
Kansas City Magazine., and prior to his work as a journalist, Worgul was a social worker and an advertising and marketing consultant. An expert on American
barbecue traditions, Worgul has been interviewed and/or cited in numerous national and regional newspapers and magazines on the subject, and has also appeared on two
History Channel programs. From 2010 to 2020, he was Director of Marketing at
Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que. Worgul is the author of
The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Techniques of Kansas City Barbecue (Kansas City Star Books, 2001). In 2003, while at
The Kansas City Star, Worgul discovered a
Toynbee Tile at the corner of 13th and Grand in downtown Kansas City. Worgul's first novel,
Thin Blue Smoke, set in a fictional barbecue joint in
Kansas City, was published in the UK by
Macmillan Publishers in 2009. The U.S. edition of
Thin Blue Smoke was published by
Burnside Books, now Bower House, in September 2012. His writing has been compared to that of
John Irving,
Richard Russo,
Kent Haruf,
David James Duncan, and
Frederick Buechner. In July 2013, Worgul was named to the National Advisory Board of the
Buechner Institute. In January 2019, Worgul was named the first Visiting Author in Residence at
University of Missouri Honors College. ==Personal life==