Cary Groner grew up in the Midwest, earned his BFA in directing from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, then worked as a journalist for more than twenty years, covering theatre, film, healthcare, science, and environmental issues. During this time he also studied Buddhist meditation and philosophy with the late Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. In 2009, he received his MFA in fiction writing from the University of Arizona. His first novel, Exiles, won the 2009 Hackney Literary Award and was published by Spiegel & Grau /​ Random House in June 2011.

Cary's short stories have appeared in numerous venues, including Glimmer Train, Mississippi Review, Southern California Review, American Fiction, Tampa Review, and Sycamore Review.

Cary and his wife live in the San Francisco bay area.