Dodo Modern Poets was founded in 1986 by Patric Cunnane with the intention of bringing new and established poets to as wide an audience as possible and especially to venues off the beaten track.

The name Dodo Modern Poets is an ironic tribute to Penguin Modern Poets, a now extinct series of anthologies featuring new poetry which were published in the sixties and seventies. Like the dodo, poetry is always in danger of extinction but somehow rises again to challenge the values of modern society.

The group hosts a regular evening at the Poetry Café; in Covent Garden where it presents the most vibrant, entertaining and challenging poets writing today.