^_The 31st Beijing International Book Fair, held from June 18 to 22, 2025, gathered the global publishing community under one roof for a week of cultural exchange, literary discovery, and dialogue. Hosted at the China National Convention Center, this year’s fair featured more than 1,700 exhibitors from 80 countries, showcasing over 400,000 titles across 50,000 square meters. With debut participation from countries such as Ethiopia, Chile, Bangladesh, and Jamaica, the event reflected an increasingly interconnected literary landscape. Nearly 300,000 visitors attended on opening day alone, reaffirming the fair’s significance as a world-class platform for the written word.

“Empower book fair with new technology and create a never-ending exchange platform for international book industry.” 
– BIBF

As BIBF 2025 concluded, it became clear that the fair is more than a showcase—it’s a movement. One that blends tradition with technology, diversity with unity, and publishing with purpose. Kravitz&Sons is honored to take part in that ongoing journey.

Joseph Mahase is a Canadian of Guyanese origin, with roots running deep into the Pomeroon District of Guyana. Educated across Trinidad, Ireland, England, and Wales, Joseph has lived and worked in over twenty-five countries, building a life around national development and international service. His career as a United Nations civil servant speaks to a lifetime of cultural immersion and civic responsibility. He now resides in Mississauga, Canada, with his wife Maria and their children. An Intimate Guyana Journey is his literary debut—a heartfelt tribute to heritage, identity, and the universal pull of home.

An Intimate Guyana Journey: A Pomeroon Destiny Uncovered is a sweeping intergenerational novel that traces the emotional and spiritual lineage of one family from 1873 to 1972. Set primarily along the hauntingly beautiful Pomeroon River in Guyana, it follows the life of Vernon Atkins—a boatbuilder and spiritual heir to a legacy riddled with secrets, sacrifices, and the quiet strength of cultural memory.

The narrative begins with an old affair in 1905 that ripples across time, affecting four generations of family ties. We journey through colonial legacies, the socioeconomic intricacies of farming life, and the rugged elegance of Guyana’s hinterland. Vernon, the young protagonist, becomes both witness and inheritor of a tangled yet enriching past—one that fuses indigenous ancestry with colonial displacement, community rituals with personal loss.

Mahase delivers rich prose soaked in cultural authenticity and sensory detail. His storytelling reveals the river not just as a setting, but as a living symbol of motion, spirit, and transformation. The water, the trees, the birdsong—they all pulse with emotional weight. Through a deft blend of realism and poetic meditation, the book explores what it means to belong to a land, to a people, to a story still being told.

Beyond its literary grace, An Intimate Guyana Journey deserves its place at the Beijing International Book Fair because it bridges worlds—bringing a microcosmic Guyanese tale into the wider global discourse on identity, heritage, and the power of memory. The novel doesn’t rely on grand historical events to create impact; it relies on the quiet, unspoken traumas and triumphs that live inside families, especially those born into cultural crossroads.

For readers today, the story resonates deeply. Its themes—loss of a parent, search for ancestral truth, the weight of untold family secrets—are timeless and universally felt. And at a time when cultural fragmentation and displacement are global conversations, Mahase’s novel serves as a gentle yet powerful reminder: our roots, no matter how far buried, shape who we become.

Discover the poetry that speaks beyond the page.
Order a copy today, available from Kravitz & Sons at our bookshop.