1. Early Life
     Journalism Career    Early Writing    Pigs of Paradise  

2. References

T.R. Todd (born Thomas Richard Jeffrey Todd, 19 November 1980) is a Canadian writer and novelist. In October 2018, Skyhorse Publishing released his third book, Pigs of Paradise: The Story of The World-Famous Swimming Pigs, which chronicled the origins of marooned pigs in The Bahamas and their rise to international fame.^[1] He has written screenplays for two films based on the swimming pigs. ^{[2] [3]}

Early Life

Todd was born in Toronto in 1980. The youngest of four children, Todd's father was a thoracic surgeon at the Toronto General Hospital^[4] and his mother looked after the home. In 2000, Todd attended Queen University with a degree in English literature and history. He was then accepted to the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and graduated with a Master's in English literature in 2006. ^[5]

Later that fall, Todd was accepted in Ryerson University's journalism program in 2007. In his first year, he was recognized with the A.O. Tate Memorial Award For Excellence in Reporting. In 2008, he also achieved the Toronto Sun Award for Best Sports Reporter in his graduating year. ^[5]

Journalism Career

While still attending Ryerson University, Todd was hired as an intern at the Toronto Star. Upon graduation in 2008, he joined The National, a newspaper in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, as a page editor. He was soon promoted to deputy editor of a special section in the paper's weekend edition. ^[5]

In 2011, after three years in the Middle East, Todd was hired by the Nassau Guardian in The Bahamas as the paper's business editor. During Hurricane Irene, Todd's coverage of this major storm also led to his appointment as Bahamas Correspondent for the Associated Press. One year later, he provided international coverage of Superstorm Sandy.^[6]

Early Writing

In the summer of 2005, prior to beginning his Master's in the United Kingdom, Todd composed his first novel, Storm of Hate. ^[7] He did so based on the events that transpired in August 2005, when catastrophic Hurricane Katrina struck Florida and Louisiana, and in particular the city of New Orleans. After years of editing, Storm of Hate was released in 2012 by the Key Publishing House, a small publisher in Toronto, with limited success. ^[8] The book was published under Jeff Todd, before he adopted his current pen name, T.R. Todd.

While working in The Bahamas, in 2012, Todd interviewed Dr. Arthur Porter, a former Canadian physician and hospital administrator, for a story with the Associated Press. ^[9] At the time, Porter was wanted in Canada in connection to a $22.5 million kick-back scheme related to the construction of McGill University Health Centre's new $1.3 billion hospital. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called it the biggest fraud investigation in Canadian history. ^[10] Porter denied any wrongdoing.

After publishing the initial story, Todd was hired by Porter, who was dying of lung cancer, to write his memoir. Todd and Porter began writing the memoir in Nassau. On May 27, 2013, while in transit, Porter was arrested in Panama on fraud charges, forcing Todd to conduct the remaining interviews by phone with Porter in La Joya prison.^[11]

The Man Behind the Bow Tie: Arthur Porter on Business, Politics and Intrigue, was published by Figure 1 Publishing in Vancouver, Canada, in September 2014.^[12] It spent months on top of Canada's Amazon Bestseller list and was optioned for television and movie rights. ^[13] Porter died, while fighting extradition in Panama, on June 30, 2015. ^[14]

Pigs of Paradise

On September 30th, 2014, Todd wrote a screenplay for a 15-minute film called When Pigs Swim, which told the story of the swimming pigs. ^[15] These animals live on an uninhabited island known as Big Major Cay, or Pig Beach, in Exuma, an exclusive island chain in The Bahamas. When Pigs Swim premiered at the Bahamas International Film Festival in December 2014, winning best documentary short, and went on to screen at film festivals in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Charleston and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, a 5-minute preview of the film went viral and has been viewed more than 2.2 million times. ^[2] The footage has been used by media around the world to publicize the swimming pigs.

Today, the swimming pig attraction has grown to include colonies of the Bahamian islands of Eleuthera, Abaco, Grand Bahama, Long Island and Rose Island near Nassau. Tourists travel from all over the world to swim with the pigs.^[16]

In October 2018, Skyhorse Published released Todd's third book, Pigs of Paradise.^[1] The book chronicles the history of Exuma and the swimming pigs, while also considering society's relationship with the pig and other animals in the modern world. The book has been covered by media outlets such as CNN Travel and USA Today. ^{[17] [18]}

Two months later, in December 2018, GIV Bahamas Inc. and Earthbeat Films released a full-length movie Pigs of Paradise, based on the book.^[3] The screenplay was also written by Todd and premiered once again at the Bahamas International Film Festival. ^[19]

Onyourtodd (talk) 18:06, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

References

• Mount Toyoni (disambiguation)
• Mount Toyoni (Erimo)
• Mount Toyoni (Urakawa-Hiroo)
• Mount Trail
• Mount Tranchant
• Mount Trashmore
• Mount Trashmore (Illinois)
• Mount Treadwell
• Mount Treatt
• Mount Trebeshinë
• Mount Tregear
• Mount Tremblant International Airport
• Mount Tremont
• Mount Tremper
• Mount Tremper Fire Observation Station
• Mount Tremper, New York
• Mount Trickett, New South Wales
• Mount Trickett (New South Wales)
• Mount Tricorn
• Mount Tricouni
• Mount Trident
• Mount Trimpi
• Mount Tripp
• Mount Tritoppen
• Mount Triumph