Up Close With: Shikha Kaiwar
By: Lauren Mcmenemy
Tags: Writers On Medium, Writing Community, London Writers Salon, Writing Life, Writers Life

Up Close With: Shikha Kaiwar

This week’s patron profile has the yummiest-looking Instagram — and with good reason. Recent London transplant Shikha Kaiwar is a pastry chef extraordinaire, and she joins us in Writers Hour regularly to pen personal essays, figure out the next recipe, or write her latest cookbook. Her advice? We’re all exactly where we’re supposed to be. Read on, if your tastebuds can resist…

Shikha Kaiwar, 32

Bay Area native, recently relocated to London

Writes creative non-fiction, personal essays, recipes (I’m a pastry chef!), cookbooks, and my own blog

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a short story where I investigate “why does my dal suck?” whenever I make it at home. I’m also starting a memoir class next month to start to write about my time in restaurants, my parents’ divorce, my chronic anxiety, and what it all means.

Where and when do you write?

Mostly at home although I’d love to start writing at cafes now that things are open! I prefer mornings.

How do you write?

Journaling and first draft by hand, editing and research work via computer. Oh, and always chai on hand!

Why do you write?

I love a good story, and I believe in the impact that words can have. I write very, very slowly, but I love the process.

What inspires your creativity?

Following chefs and artists on Instagram, LWS folks doing cool things, and my own creative cooking process — I’m a professional pastry chef and I test desserts and recipes all the time. I am very confident in the kitchen, but I’m still trying to figure out how to translate that confidence into my writing so I’m able to write and pitch more. The photo below is my cookbook collection, any of which I love reading to find inspiration.

Shikha is inspired by the chef life

What’s your favourite book?

I love A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain — such vivid details about his experiences and numerous stories packed into a book. His personal essays from the early 2000s are also wonderful.

What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?

Embrace the crap draft — the point isn’t to be good as soon as you start, it’s to start at all.

What’s the one thing you would tell other/aspiring writers?

You are exactly where you’re supposed to be. As someone who often feels too old, not interesting enough, or an imposter because I have a separate full-time job, it’s something I need to remind myself of constantly.

How can we discover more about you and your work?

Instagram: @shikhalamode. Lots of pastries and thoughts.

My blog: www.shikhalamode.com

Get my cookbook on Amazon! Ice Cream Party is a cookbook FLIPBOOK where you can mix and match recipes to create your perfect ice cream sundae :)

My latest essay: https://www.whetstonemagazine.com/south-asia-journal/when-it-comes-to-khees-time-and-place-is-everything

Shikha Kaiwar’s writers view is a bit prickly

✍️ Write with Shikha and hundreds of other writers each weekday at Writers’ Hour (it’s free).

Connect with fellow writers and build a successful, creative career with London Writers’ Salon.