The inconspicuous woman who bankrolled the First Nations Writers Festival since its humble beginnings in 2022 was once a global investment banker, but Anna Borzi is not what she seems.

"Please don't make this about me," Borzi told National Indigenous Times.

One of the largest fund managers in the world at one time headed global financial institutions, influenced governments and industry bodies while breaking glass ceilings along the way.

But her passion has always been storytelling for First Nations people.

And there's a personal reason behind that.

Borzi was raised in Papua New Guinea, growing up in foster homes before spending some time with her Australian grandparents.

"I found out that my beloved grandfather, who was the only one in my family that was nice to me, was Indigenous (on one side of his family) – he was Wiradjuri," Borzi said.

"It's really funny that I haven't met anybody else this has happened to – so I don't identify as Indigenous because I just think it's a bit rude if I rock up to Wiradjuri country and say, 'hi bro'.

"I have never sought advice, but I have always felt like it would be very wrong for me to start claiming knowledge – ancient knowledge – that I don't have."

The festival that is calling for entries of unpublished manuscripts wants to hear the creative heart beat from Traditional Owners, as well as the rest of the Pacific.

The discovery of a once untold heritage without cultural connection has progressively grown to an understanding of First Nations people and an appreciation for their own stories as it happened.

And Borzi's words are not whitewashed just to be more palatable for a mainstream audience.

"When I was in Papua New Guinea, I spent time in villages a lot," Borzi said.

"I got to know the people of Papua New Guinea, as a child, quite well.

"I never understood what people say negatively about either Indigenous people (of Australia) or First Nations people around the Pacific because they're great.

"Once you have this wonder of cultures embedded in you, in your formative years of generosity and being welcomed everywhere you go, you never lose it."

Before the festival was unravelled, there was only the Blak & Bright festival that six years earlier was dedicated to showcasing and elevating First Nations literary voices.

Borzi wants to include works focusing on poetry, short stories and longer tales from the Pacific ready to turn into books, as well as following her own experience of a distinct number of voices in a nation that has the most linguistic culture of any in the world.

"We wanted to get stories out that they wanted to write in their own words," she said.

"We found there weren't any being published, so we thought, 'Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound' to quote the old colonials."

The First Nations Writers Festival, independent of government funding or political correctness, is eager to promote unfettered books that are yet to be published.

"The people from the Pacific, picking our fruit and looking after our kids – they're really the giant intellectuals with an incredible story to tell," Borzi said.

"So I want to make sure if the manuscripts come in, we can publish them and can go out to the world without being challenged by somebody else."

After its first three years of awards, festival organisers have published the works of 12 talented authors.

By virtue of storytelling, they have unearthed stories of generations of their mob who inspires their communities.

"When you raise the writer and lift their public profile, and you distribute their stories around the world, you raise their whole community, a whole mob – and the Australian vernacular – you raise all (of the mob), and they're role models," Borzi said.

The First Nations Writers Festival will be held in Townsville over May 30-31.

Additional information on the festival is available via the First Nations Writers Festival Website.