Born in 1949 in the small town of Parkersburg, West Virginia, Currey's literary ambitions started early—and were fueled by his grandfather:

"My grandfather finished the 8th grade in a one—room school in the rural mountains, but he was a lifelong reader, an admirer of books and, by extension, the people who made them. He pushed me to read, and introduced me to books that a boy in the 1950s generally wasn't exposed to—Wise Blood, The Sound and the Fury, A Farewell to Arms. My grandfather sent me from The Hardy Boys to Hemingway in one leap."

Currey's family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1961—where he was drafted in 1968. In an effort to avoid the Army, Currey enlisted in the Navy. Ironically, he was trained in jungle warfare and special operations, and saw service as a medical corpsman attached to the Marine Corps's Fleet Marine Force. By his 20th birthday Currey was, as he has since written, "sewn into a new skin." His military experiences were not to emerge as literary themes for some time, however—Currey started his writing life with poetry, and published many poems before the first version of Crossing Over: The Vietnam Stories was picked up by a small Boston publisher in 1980. The book became a cult hit, and was named a "Best Title of the Year" by Library Journal.

But it was the novel Fatal Light that would establish Currey's international reputation, with widespread critical acclaim and 20 different editions published in 11 languages. The book was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and brought its author the Vietnam Veterans of America's Excellence in the Arts Award and a Special Citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation.

Currey went on to write The Wars of Heaven, a story collection including O. Henry and Pushcart Prize winners (and the story "Old Fires" which was adapted for the stage and performed at Symphony Space in New York). Currey's novel, Lost Highway, re-released in 2005, chronicles the life and times of a fictional country music star and is now available as an audiobook from Mountain Whispers.