About Potha

Potha (potha.org) is a library of books that are legally free to read and free to share. "Potha" is the Sinhala word for "book".

What is listed here

• Public-domain works. In Sri Lanka copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years. After that a work belongs to everyone.
• Openly licensed books. Books whose rights holders released them under a licence such as Creative Commons.
• Books given by their authors. A writer publishes a book here with a signed, written declaration.

What will never be listed here

Books copied without the rights holder's permission, scans of books that are on sale, or anything whose ownership is in doubt. We do not sell books and we do not take anyone's books. If you believe a book should not be here, tell us.

Every book shows its rights

Each book page has a section called "Why this book is free to share", naming the licence and how the book came to be free. Some books are stored on our own server; for many public-domain classics we link to the trusted libraries that already maintain them.

For authors

If you would like to give your book to readers free of charge, see how it works. There is no fee.