About Susan

Len Boyer here, 28th of July 2022.
It is with very much saddness I have to say that in mid-August 2021 Susan was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Although it was a truly testing time during her final six months Susan was courageous, diginified and accepting of her situation. She succumbed to the cancer mid-February 2022. Her passing is a tremendous loss not only to myself, her sons, grand children, family and friends but also to the wider community as she still had so much more to contribute with her writing.

I am very proud to say that Susan has left a massive legacy with her English as a Second Language (ESL) books and audios along with her history titles. Her first ESL book 'Understanding everyday Australia', published in 1998, and others, are still in demand today. This is a testament to Susan's ability to know what, both students and teachers need, and how to present resources in a relevant, effective and user friendly format.

Susan's story.
Susan Boyer was a contemporary Australian author with over twenty non-fiction titles in print. She had a background in English Language and Literacy teaching, and a passion for Australian colonial history. Her publications, included her narrative non-fiction Australian history title, Across Great Divides: True Stories of Life at Sydney Cove. Her books have also been distributed internationally and most are available as eBooks in PDF format and her audios as MP3 downloads.

At the time of her diagnosis Susan was currently involved in research as part of her Doctorate in Creative Arts (DCA) at Western Sydney University. Her research related to the place of history as stories versus history as 'facts' and how our perceptions of the past feed into concepts of identity and influence our view of the present. Her research lead to a novel set in Australia's early colonial years and it was very fortunate that Susan was able to complete final edits just before her passing.

Read more about Susan's Boyer's writing and publishing of English language and literacy resources.
Susan began her writing and publishing career unintentionally. After graduating with Distinction from a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and cultural studies in 1995, she began teaching English language and literacy at TAFE NSW. Seeing the lack of Australian material available for students and teachers, she decided to address the issue by developing her own lesson content in response to her students’ needs and interests.

Her most popular lessons were those on everyday themes such as ‘Visiting the Doctor’, ‘Socialising at a Barbecue’, and ‘Worrying about Money’. Each topic introduced ‘everyday’ expressions students would encounter in mainstream Australian society with a focus on idioms and colloquialisms as opposed to ‘slang’. Each topic included listening, reading and writing exercises, a focus on understanding grammar and speaking practice, through realistic interactions. Positive feedback from students and teachers (and her completion of a Master of Arts, Language and Literacy at UTS) prompted her to think about submitting her material for publication.
After responses from ‘mainstream’ international publishers suggesting the Australian market was ‘too small’, Susan decided to publish the material herself.

In 1998, under the business name Boyer Educational Resources, Susan and partner, Len, produced their first publication: Understanding Everyday Australian. This became the first of many English literacy support resources. Now Boyer Educational Resources publishes resources for an international market.

In 2011, Susan produced her twentieth title, People in Australia’s Past: Their Stories, Their Achievements (a storybook, a language workbook and audio narration of the stories) which combined her love of writing and Australian history.

After publishing 'Across Great Divides: True Stories of Life at Sydney Cove' (2013) through Birrong Books, Susan received positive feedback from teachers about its content linking closely with Australian Curriculum history units. In response she wrote a young reader edition with the title 'Stories of Life at Sydney Cove', and developed free teaching downloads, including listening activities for use in classrooms. See a review of ‘Stories of Life at Sydney Cove’ on Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Reading Time website.

During 2017-2019, due to funding from Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund Susan enjoyed visiting schools around Sydney and regional schools for storytelling sessions sharing the true stories in her books as they relate to the new Australian Curriculum.

If you like to know more about Susan Boyer contact Len Boyer via email at: info@boyereducation.com.au.