Poet, writer, filmmaker, actor. Shushkin was born on July 25, 1929 in the village of Srotsky Bysky into a peasant family.  During his studies in the university Shushkin became friends with Andrei Tarkovsky and Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky.  While in the university he began appearing in Soviet films.

In 1958 Shushkin's first short story appeared in the journal Smena, and in 1963 his first collection of stories appeared called Village Dwellers.  During his lifetime Shushkin composed over 100 stories.

Shushkin was a very close friend of Vladimir Vysotsky, who later composed a poem for him.  Shushkin died in the village of Kletsky Volgogradsky on November 2, 1974.