Majnun and Layla: Songs from Beyond the Grave | 
The author gives more agency to Layla than in the medieval and early modern versions. I won't say what happens because it might be considered a spoiler. Let's just say that I liked the new ending.
What I liked less is the section on Majnun's rotting corpse. The arty treatment felt a bit self-indulgent and off. I turned the pages quickly because as someone who lost a parent earlier this year, I am not ready for this.
More art from the book. Its description on Litsy might give the impression that it is an illustrated version of a Persian original. It isn't. It's a modern retelling in verse, which from what I understood from the author's presentation, was inspired foremost by Nizami's version (which I read back in April), and then by Jami's (which I am reading at the moment) and Khosrow's.
Last week, I went to a reading and projection of the tagged book during which the author and a friend played Arabic, Iranian and Turkish music. It was quite moving, and now I am reading the book. You can see how intricate the illustrations are. Damezin is quite the Renaissance man: he can write poetry, draw, play various musical instruments, and improvise music!
Also, it was a free library event 👏
I went to a musical reading/projection of the tagged graphic novel in alexandrine verse, based on various versions of the Majnun and Leila story, but mainly on the Nizami one. I couldn't not go - it ticked all sorts of boxes for me: Persian and Arabic music, poetry, pretty pictures, not to mention the fact that my aim is to read all the versions of M&L I can find. wasn't expecting much however b/c I'd not heard of the author, but I loved it.
