About Us

Eddie Vincent, co-owner of Encircle Publications LLC, has been in the publishing for over thirty years.  Eddie serves on the board of Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE).

Cynthia Brackett-Vincent, publisher/editor of the Aurorean poetry journal since 1995, holds a BFA in Creative Writing with a minor in Psychology from the University of Maine at Farmington and an AA in Social Sciences (Quincy College, MA, where she served as an editor of Stepping Stone and a member of Phi Theta Kappa). As well, she studied English at Bridgewater State College in MA. Cynthia serves as the Lead and Acquisitions Editor for Encircle Publications.
A Pushcart Prize nominated and award-winning poet, Cynthia has had over 100 poems published in such journals as Avocet, Decanto (United Kingdom), frogpond, Yankee, and Ibbetson Street; in her chapbooks, Questions About Home, and the 95 Poems; and in the online journals, Mannequin Envy, The Orange Room Review, The Penman Review, Pirene’s Fountain and others. Her nonfiction and poetry appear abroad. In 2001, she co-founded the Tidepool Poets of Plymouth, MA. Cynthia has judged poetry locally, regionally and nationally for such contests as the Writer’s Digest annual writing competition. Her co-edited anthology, Women on Poetry: Writing, Revising, Publishing and Teaching (McFarland, 2012) was named “One of 100 Best Books for Writers” by Poets & Writers magazine.

Michael Piekny, Editor, is responsible for acquiring, editing, and promoting many of Encircle’s titles.  In addition to Editorial work, Michael handles a variety of business development projects for Encircle. Prior to joining Encircle, Michael founded the professional editorial firm Hub Edits where he works with clients on various projects including editing, ghostwriting and author development. His editorial clients have been named to numerous book lists and bestseller lists.  Michael is also on the Board of Directors of the Independent Publishers of New England and on the Editorial Board of the online literary magazine, The Fictional Cafe .

Deirdre Wait, Creative Director, has been a graphic designer for more than 25 years. She got her start as a newspaper advertising designer with Community Newspaper Company (CNC) in Massachusetts, eventually becoming a senior designer responsible for some of CNC’s top clients as well as promotional and marketing materials for the company. To expand her design and layout skills, she also worked in the editorial department as a paginator. That job led to a position with a small independent Large Print publisher as a book paginator. When that company was purchased by a larger publisher, they hired Deirdre as a freelance book cover designer, and her main focus has been designing for and promoting books ever since. She and her husband Chris, under the business name High Pines Creative, Inc., have since designed covers for multiple publishers including Encircle Publications, and for many independent as well as New York Times bestselling authors. When Deirdre isn’t busy with books, she is enjoying time with her husband Chris on their tiny Colorado ranch with their barnful of animals. 

Christopher Wait has been a graphic designer and book cover designer for more than 25 years. He was a senior designer at The Boston Beer Company and Design Director at Citizens Bank before he and his wife Deirdre started their own design firm—High Pines Creative, Inc. In addition to designing book covers, Chris is also a proofreader and reviews author submissions.
Chris and Deirdre live on a ranch in the mountains of Colorado surrounded by the beauty of nature and their own herd of horses, donkeys, goats, and cats. Outside work he can be found enjoying the great outdoors mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and mini-biking.