Palmer author garners national attention for Bush pilot book

One local author is enjoying success years after her book was first published.

Sally McMahan Pollen, author of Papa was a Bush Pilot," has been featured in two national aviation magazines recently. Pilot Journal recently did a five-page spread on her book, which details the Bush travels of her father, 91-year-old Cleo McMahan.

"There has been some national interest in the book," Pollen said. "It's pretty exciting."

Pollen wrote the book in 2000, and the first copies off the press were given to her father for his 88th birthday, on Sept. 24, 2000. Pollen, along with her daughter, Shelley, spent the entire winter of 1999 transcribing cassette tapes, sorting through her father's old Kodachrome slides and writing the book.

"It was interesting listening to the stories, and talking to people who were with him [McMahan] and getting some of the sketchy details, and then finding a picture that is exactly as dad said it was," Pollen said in 2000. "Because he took so many pictures and did the cassettes, the book is an organizational evolution of his life."

Pollen said her dad is still going strong.

"He's 91 and still doing great," Pollen said.

Pollen is appearing at the Friday Flings event in Palmer on July 25 for a book signing. She will be there from noon to 2 p.m. If the weather is bad, she will be signing copies of the book at Fireside Books, located in downtown Palmer.