Georgy Grebenshchikov was born in the village of Nikolaevsky Rudnik in Altai, which no longer exists, in the family of a miner. In 1894, without completing his primary school education, he began an independent life. After trying many professions, he turned to journalism. His first literary attempts date back to 1905. In 1906, his collection of stories and essays "Echoes of Siberian Outskirts" was published. From 1909, he became the responsible secretary of the magazine "Young Siberia," enrolled as a free listener at Tomsk University, and met G. N. Potanin, sharing his views on Siberia.

In 1910 and 1911, following Potanin's advice, Grebenshchikov undertook ethnographic journeys in Altai. As a result, he presented reports on Old Believers at the Tomsk Society for the Study of Siberia, gave a lecture on Bukhtarma settlers at the Siberian Assembly in St. Petersburg, and published an essay in the "Altai Collection." In the spring of 1912, upon Potanin's recommendation, he became the editor of the Barnaul newspaper "Life of Altai."

During this time, he published a two-volume collection of stories and novellas "In the Vastness of Siberia." With the support of M. Gorky, with whom he corresponded, his works began to be published in the capital's magazines "Sovremennik" and "Letopis."

He did not accept the October Revolution of 1917. During the Civil War, he lived in Crimea, collaborating with the local press. In 1920, he emigrated and initially lived in France, where he was acquainted with N. Roerich, F. Chaliapin, and K. Balmont. In 1923, together with N. K. Roerich, he founded the publishing house "Alatas," which published books such as "The State of Light" by N. K. Roerich, "Nikolai's Parables" by A. Remizov, "The Blue Horseshoe" by K. D. Balmont, "The Book of Life" by Prof. I. A. Sikorsky, and "The Invisible Guest" by Ivan Umov.

Since 1924, he lived in the USA. In 1925, in Connecticut, he founded the settlement "Churaevka."

Grebenshchikov worked on a multi-volume epic novel "Churaevy," which had a significant influence on the literary tastes and aspirations of the Russian émigré youth. In the early 1920s, in Harbin, Russian youth created a literary circle "Young Churaevka." Later, in the 1930s, after many Harbin poets and writers moved to Shanghai, a new literary association "Shanghai Churaevka" was established there. He also left memoirs about Ivan Shmelev.