STOCKHOLM (AP) — Betting on French novelist Patrick Modiano to win the Nobel Prize in literature has surged in the days ahead of the announcement of the coveted award.

Modiano, author of “Missing Person,” rose to sixth place in betting firm Ladbroke’s ranking Wednesday with odds of 10/1, from odds of more than 50/1 last week.

Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o remains the bettors’ favorite for Thursday’s prize, ahead of Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

In previous years, odds on the winning author have sometimes plunged shortly before the announcement even though the Nobel jury seeks to avoid leaks. Other times such movements have meant nothing. Last year the odds on Belarusian investigative journalist and author Svetlana Alexievich fell sharply the day before the jury revealed the winner was Canada’s Alice Munro.

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