“[J.M.] Coetzee has been given odds of 3/1 to take the award for a third time by Ladbrokes, well ahead of the only other author to have previously won the prize, AS Byatt, who trails in at 10/1 for her much-praised The Children’s Book. ‘Coetzee is the field’s big name and we anticipate that literary punters will be quick to back the author’s bid to create history,’ said Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg.”