The New York Times released its list of “100 Notable Books of 2011″ this week, and the Ransom Center holds the archives of five writers on the list.

To celebrate this news, the Ransom Center will give away a signed copy of a book by one of these writers to the first three people to email hrcgiveaway@gmail.com with the names of all five writers on the list.

Update: Congratulations to Lev L., Robert P., and Ry P. for their correct responses of Russell Banks, Julian Barnes, Don DeLillo, Denis Johnson, and David Foster Wallace. They will all receive a signed copy of Denis Johnson’s novel Already Dead.

Photo of Mary Ware Dennett from New York Journal American collection.

In 1919 Mary Ware Dennett (1872–1947) published The Sex Side of Life, a sex-education pamphlet for young people that she originally wrote for her sons. The U.S. Post Office declared the pamphlet obscene in April 1922, and Dennett struggled on her own to get the ruling reversed, all the while continuing to distribute The Sex Side of Life through the mail.

In 1928, in consultation with attorney Morris Ernst, Dennett agreed that it was time to test The Sex Side of Life in court.  The trial came sooner than anticipated when the Justice Department indicted Dennett for mailing the pamphlet to “Mrs. Carl A. Miles” in Virginia. A jury convicted Dennett of distributing…