What inspired you to write “The Birth”?
I was inspired to write “The Birth” by an experience I had during labor. I realized while writing this story how deep the wounds were from my experience, and how important it was to write about these fictional characters and their experience. A woman in labor should have whomever she’d like witnessing the labor of her child.

How has COVID impacted your creative work?
COVID has taught me that all my stories are important. It’s also given me a chance to be more creative.

Read Viviana Peña’s “The Birth.”