This book is designed to enable students at the intermediate and advanced levels to read and understand authentic texts in Swahili. Appropriate for classroom or independent use, this book provides a transition to unassisted reading of journalistic, scholarly and literature works in Swahili. The lessons in the book include contemporary texts on a wide range of topics from cooking and courtship to politics and poetry. Each lesson includes glosses in Swahili that define the vocabulary; grammatical and cultural notes; comprehensive questions; and activities.