November 8, 2024, 9:01am

Next week, the UK’s most prestigious book prize, the Booker, will announce its 2024 winner. Have you placed your bets yet? An important reminder for those keeping track: do not bet on “Paul” to win the Booker Prize this year. However, you could do worse than following the bookies’ leads—after all, they were right on the money last year.

The winner of the 2024 Booker Prize will take home £50,000, a boost in sales, bragging rights, and, for the Americans on the list, a credential that will make it a lot easier to immigrate to the UK, should that, for some reason, seem attractive to them right now. This year’s judges are Edmund de Waal (Chair), Sara Collins, Justine Jordan, Yiyun Li, and Nitin Sawhney.

Here are the current betting odds, according to UK betting site Nicer Odds:

Percival Everett, James – 3/2

Samantha Harvey, Orbital – 2/1

Charlotte Wood, Stone Yard Devotional – 4/1

Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake – 5/1

Yael van der Wouden, The Safekeep –5/1

Anne Michaels, Held – 13/2

James has been the top favorite since even before the shortlist was announced—at the beginning of September, betting site OLBG gave the book 5/2 odds to win . . . but didn’t correctly pick any of the other shortlistees. What will happen next? We’ll all have to wait until Tuesday to find out.