Becky Mushko, a retired middle school teacher, now teaches English part-time at Ferrum College. Though she considers herself an Appalachian writer, Becky lives slightly east of the Appalachians. Born and raised in Roanoke, she moved to Penhook in 1999, where she lives with her husband John, her 90-year-old mother, two horses, four dogs, and an assortment of cats. She is the third-generation owner of a farm in Union Hall.

A three-time winner of both the Sherwood Anderson Short Story Contest (1996, 1998, & 2002) and the Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest (1994, 1996, & 1999), Becky has also won the 2001 Wytheville Chautauqua Short Story Contest, the 1999 Women in the Arts Contest Fiction Contest, the 1999 Hutton Publications' Rotten Romance Contest, and the "Worst Western" division of the 1996 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. She was nominated for a 1997 Pushcart Prize for a story that appeared in THEMA. 

Becky's novel, Patches on the Same Quilt won the 2001 Smith Mountain Arts Council Fiction Award and was self-published with a grant from SMAC. Patches on the Same Quilt, the best-selling novel at The Blue Lady Bookshop, began in Blue Ridge Traditions in 1993 when Becky submitted her story "Forced Blossoms" for publication in the new magazine. When the then-publisher of Blue Ridge Traditions Peggy Conklin asked if she had any other stories, Becky wrote and submitted "Last Wish," which eventually became the first chapter of Patches on the Same Quilt.

Her humor column, "Peevish Advice" began in Blue Ridge Traditions in 1998. In 2001, she published the book Peevish Advice, which is available online at www.buybooksontheweb, at www.amazon.com, and from 
Becky when she sometimes does guest appearances as Ida B. Peevish of Ida's Salon of Beauty and Live Bait Shop. Occasionally Ida B. Peevish gives advice on internet radio (www.ferrumradio.com).

Besides Blue Ridge Traditions, Becky's stories and poems have also appeared in several volumes of ROAD Publishers' Poets Domain Series; Stitches; Mediphores; Anderrie Press's Bride of the Funny Side, Womankind, and Cats, Canines, & Other Critters; THEMA; Virginia Adversaria; 4-Beat, the magazine of the American Single-footing Horse Association; Senior News; the Roanoke Times' Christmas Memories anthology; Fit to Print, the Valley Writers' Anthology Vol. I & II; In Good Company; and several other publications.

She is currently working on a sequel to Patches on the Same Quilt. A collection of her winning short stories, The Girl who Raced Mules and other Stories, should be available by fall. She is available for readings, book signings, and writing workshops. Some of her Appalachian writing is posted on Ferrum College's AppLit web site (www.ferrum.edu/applit).

Becky is available for public appearances, writing workshops, books signings, and readings. See the Virginia Commission for the Arts' Writers in Virginia Program (www.arts.state.va.us/WIVfiles/m-owiv.pdf) or visit Becky's web site (http://home.infionline.net/~rmushko) for more information.