Beefy Book

Providing barbecue at a literary event may sound like a risky proposition — sauce-covered fingers and wet napkins smudging pages, authors choking on pulled pork — but the Kansas City Central Library (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3400) is throwing caution to the wind. Burnt ends and books collide as novelist Doug Worgul presents Thin Blue Smoke along with barbecue from Oklahoma Joe’s. Worgul is a Kansas City resident and barbecue authority, so it’s no surprise that his first full work of fiction is set in present-day KC and takes its title from the ideal hue of smoke for slow-cooking meat. Thin Blue Smoke follows characters who are struggling with love and loss amid familiar local backdrops of blues, baseball and baby back ribs. Admission is free; see kclibrary.org or call 816-701-3407 to reserve a seat. And show up at 6 p.m. sharp for the reception, before the beef disappears.— Gavon Laessig

Wed., Aug. 11, 6 p.m., 2010