Anna Banks holds a doctorate in communication arts and sciences with an emphasis in visual communication. Her research and writing is interdisciplinary and she works at the intersection of ecocinema, ecocriticism and critical animal studies often addressing aspects of the human-animal bond. She is especially interested in works involving non-human narrators and on how narrative and cinematic point-of-view (POV) affect reader and viewer understanding of the storyworlds created and inhabited by animal narrators. She is co-editor of the collection "Fiction and Social Research: By Ice or Fire," and a member of the international editorial advisory board for the "Social Fictions Series" from Sense Publishers. In addition to her scholarly publications, Dr. Banks has published short stories, written plays and screenplays and produced short films. Her most recent publications have appeared in "The Goose" and "ecozon@." She has written on Jean-Jacques Annau’s film "The Bear," on the Celtic horse goddess Rhiannon as depicted in "The Mabinogion," on the documentary "Blackfish," and on shifting POV in the theatrical and film adaptations of the novel "War Horse." She is currently at work on a book tentatively titled, "The Equine Sutras: Ecologies, Archetypes, Horses."

• Animal Studies
• Narrative Theory
• Arts Based Research
• Adaptation Studies

• “Animal narrativity: Showing lived experiences in the more-than-human world.” Sharing qualitative research: Showing lived experiences and community narratives. Eds. Susan Gair and Ariella van Luyn. Routledge, 2017: 63–78.
• “The Myth of Rhiannon: An Ecofeminist Perspective.” Ecocriticism, Ecology, and the Cultures of Antiquity. Ed. Christopher Schliephake. Washington, D.C.: Lexington Books/Rowman and Littlefield, 2017: 227-242.
• “A Strange and Affecting Film: Unnatural Narrative and Subjective POV in Jean-Jaques Annaud’s The Bear.” Ecocriticism and Narrative Theory: Essays at a Critical Confluence.  Eds. Erin James and Eric Morel. Columbus: Ohio State UP (book chapter, in press).
• Fiction and Social Research: By Ice or Fire, 1998,  Walnut Creek, California: AltaMiraPress (Co-edited with Stephen P. Banks).
• Aunt Sally’s Warning. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. XVII, No. 1, (short story published under the pseudonym Anna Faa).
• Tzintzuntzan. Red Rock Review, Spring 1997, (short story published under the pseudonym AnnaFaa).

Theatrical Productions

• “Casablanca, Encore.” Produced and performed at DNA: A festival of very, very, very short plays, March 1-5, 2006, a co-production of the University of Idaho, Department of Theatre and Film and the Idaho Repertory Theatre, (play).
• “The Seer.” Produced and performed at DNA: A festival of very, very, very short plays,March 24-27, 2004, a co-production of the University of Idaho, Department of Theatre and Film and the Idaho Repertory Theatre, (play).
• “Breathing (or An Homage to Django Reinhardt).” Produced and performed at DNA: A festival of very, very, very short plays, April 11-12, 2003, a co-production of the University of Idaho, Department of Theatre and Film and the Idaho Repertory Theatre, (play).

Film Productions

• "Children of the Wind." (Short film - Writer/Original Story and Screenplay,), screened at WSU regional artists' meeting, November 2007.
• “The Seer.” (Short film - Writer and Producer). UI Faculty Exhibition, Prichard Gallery, Moscow, Idaho, December 2, 2005-January 21, 2006.
• “Art Speaks.” (Short film - Writer, Producer and Co-Director (with Ludmilla Saskova).). Screened at DNA: A festival of very, very, very short plays, March 24-27, 2004, a co-production of the University of Idaho, Department of Theatre and Film and the Idaho Repertory Theatre.