Cathie Felstead was born 1954 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in the UK and is an English illustrator.
Felstead attended Chelsea School of Art, where she gained a BA in graphic design. She then studied illustration at the Royal College of Art, graduating with an MA in 1980.
Felstead commenced her career by creating designs for book covers. Among the authors whose books she worked on were William Golding, Iris Murdoch, Isabel Allende, Nadine Gordimer and Alice Walker.
She has produced artwork for advertising campaigns, packaging, T-shirts, opera, ballet, television, magazines, greeting cards and books. Felstead's commercial clients have included British Airways, Channel 4, Ballet Rambert, Fiat, Oxfam, Lynx, Barclays Bank, the Glastonbury Festivals and The Body Shop. She also created the cover illustration for John Martyn's 1984 album Sapphire.
Her artwork has been shown in many exhibitions in Britain and abroad. She was runner-up in the Mother Goose Award for her illustrations in A Caribbean Dozen and has also received awards for book illustration in the United States.