Wayland Maxfield Parrish (March 7, 1887 – December 31, 1970)[1] was an American professor and writer.
Born in Mohawk, Ohio, in 1887, he is noted for writing a few books dealing with rhetoric titled Reading Aloud, Speaking in Public, American Speeches, The Teacher's Speech, and Richard Whately's Elements of Rhetoric: Parts I and II.
In 1926 he gave a series of radio talks broadcast from the University of Pittsburgh's KDKA station concerning public speaking and the many misconceptions surrounding it titled A Series of Six Radio Talks on Public Speaking.
In 1930, Parrish was promoted to the rank of a full professor at the University of Pittsburgh and appointed head of the English department's Division of Public Speaking.
[3] Like his time at the University of Pittsburgh, while at the University of Illinois he wrote several journal articles and his most famous works The Teacher’s Speech in 1939, Reading Aloud: A Technique in the Interpretation of Literature in 1941, and Speaking in Public in 1947.