Haruki Murakami favourite to win Nobel Prize in Literature as Bob Dylan lands odds of 10/1

Haruki Murakami will approach the Nobel Prize in Literature result as one of the shortest odds favourites in history according to Ladbrokes.

[GENE is 20/1]

Haruki Murakami

Bob Dylan

Bookmakers Ladbrokes have slashed Japanese author Murakami's odds to just 2/1 in the build up to the Academy's announcement, while last week's long-odds gamble William Trevor also continues to shorten to 7/1.

Buoyed by a flurry of bets, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has overtaken literary titans Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon to attain odds of 10/1 - although experts consider his real prospects of winning to be small.

Dylan's name appears in the Nobel buzz every year, though the committee has never given the prize to a musician, and the last American to win the prize was Toni Morrison in 1993.

Alice Munro has been cut to 8/1 (from 20/1) whilst the remainder of the field fail to attract money suggesting literary bettors have narrowed the shortlist down to three figures.

Betting on this year's prize has been a typically international affair with customers staking their claim from all over the world. Bets have been struck from as far afield as Sweden, Japan, Canada, Romania and South Africa.

Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: "Literary punters appear to have narrowed their shortlist down to just three. Murakami's odds continue to shorten and it looks like he'll head into the final days of betting as one of the shortest favourites in history."
He added: "The bets we've taken prove that taking a punt on the prize remains as popular worldwide as ever."
The Swedish Academy says it will reveal the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature tomorrow, completing the schedule of this year's Nobel announcements.
The 8 million kronor ($1.2 million) award is one of the highest recognitions in literature worldwide. Last year's prize went to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer.
The Nobel Prize announcements began on Monday with the award in medicine, followed by physics on Tuesday and chemistry on Wednesday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday, October 15.


Ladbrokes latest odds for the Nobel Prize in Literature winner

Haruki Murakami 2/1
William Trevor 7/1
Mo Yan 8/1
Alice Munro 8/1
Peter Nadas 8/1
Bob Dylan 10/1
Cees Nooteboom 12/1
Ngugi wa Thiog'o 12/1
Thomas Pynchon 12/1
Ismail Kadare 14/1
Adonis 14/1
Ko Un 14/1
Assia Djebar 14/1
Dacia Maraini 16/1
Philip Roth 16/1
Cormac McCarthy 16/1
Amos Oz 16/1
Tom Stoppard 16/1
Milan Kundera 16/1
Enrique Vila-Matas 20/1

Gene Vincent  20/1