Question: Which writer is from a country closer to the United States of America, Halldór Laxness or A. A. Milne?

Context paragraphs:
Halldór Laxness: Halldór Kiljan Laxness (] ; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was a twentieth-century Icelandic writer.  Laxness wrote poetry, newspaper articles, plays, travelogues, short stories, and novels. Major influences included August Strindberg, Sigmund Freud, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Bertolt Brecht and Ernest Hemingway.  In 1955 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature; he is the only Icelandic Nobel laureate.

Afghanistan–United States relations: Afghanistan–United States relations can be traced to 1921 but the first contact between the two occurred further back in the 1830s when the first recorded person from the United States was visiting Afghanistan.  In the last decade, Afghan-American relations have become stronger than ever before.  Afghanistan and the United States have a very strong and friendly strategic partnership.  In 2012, relations became even closer when the President of the United States, Barack Obama declared Afghanistan a Major non-NATO ally.  According to a 2012 BBC poll, the U.S. was the most favored country in Afghanistan.

A. A. Milne: Alan Alexander Milne ( ; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various poems.  Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.  Milne served in both World Wars, joining the British Army in World War I, and was a captain of the British Home Guard in World War II.

Jesusland map: The Jesusland map is an Internet meme created shortly after the 2004 U.S. presidential election that satirizes the red/blue states scheme by dividing the United States and Canada into "The United States of Canada" and "Jesusland".  The map implies the existence of a fundamental political divide between contiguous northern and southern regions of North America, the former including both the socially liberal Canada and the West Coast, Northeastern, and Upper Midwestern states, and suggests that these states are closer in spirit to Canada than to the more conservative regions of their own country.  (The meme ignores conservative regions of Canada that might not want to join the hypothetical new country.)  The Freakonomics blog opined that the map reflected the "despair, division, and bitterness" of the election campaign and results. " Slate" also covered the image and posited that it might be the reason the Canadian immigration website received six times its usual page views the day after the election.

Leila Philip: Leila Philip (born April 18, 1961, New York City) is an American writer, poet and educator.  She is the author of three books of memoir and narrative non-fiction ("A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family", "Hidden Dialogue: A Discussion Between Women in Japan and the United States", "The Road Through Miyama") and one collection of poetry ("Water Rising").  Philip has been anthologized in a number of books, including: Brief Encounters, Teaching Creative Non-Fiction, Maiden Voyages: Writings of Women Travelers; Family Travels: The Farther You Go the Closer You Get; Japan: True Stories of Life on the Road, A Woman’s Passion for Travel.  She has contributed articles and reviews to newspapers, magazines, research and journals including "Ploughshares", "The Christian Science Monitor", Studio Potter Magazine, the "Yomiuri Shimbun" and the "Daily Yomiuri".  Philip has written about art for Artcritical, Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas and Art in America.  She is the Contributing Editor of Riverteeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative

Red-eyed coqui: The red-eyed coqui, churi, coqui churi, or coqui de las Antillas (Eleutherodactylus antillensis) is a species of frog in the Eleutherodactylidae family that is found in Puerto Rico, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, and introduced to Panama (2).  Although there are many similar species that are endemic to these tropical locations, its unique physical, habitual, and behavioral characteristics distinguish it from other members of the Eleutherodactylus genus.  This genus contains around 185 species that are located in the Southern United States, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, with 16 different species endemic to Puerto Rico (5).  The Red-Eye Coqui was not brought into Panama City from its native habitats until the late 1960s.  There it became established in urban parks before it began to colonize outside the city in the 1980s (2).  In Puerto Rico, the largest island inhabited by the Red-Eyed Coqui, it can be found up to 1,200 meters above sea level.  (2).  It is often compared to the Common Coqui, Puerto Rico’s unofficial territorial symbol, but upon a closer ecological look, the Red-Eyed Coqui has many differences.

Bother! The Brain of Pooh: Bother!  The Brain of Pooh is a one-man show created and performed by the English actor Peter Dennis with selections from the works about Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne.  It premiered on October 14, 1976 at the ADC Theatre, Cambridge University, and premiered in America at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in December 1986.  The show received eight Critics' Choice Awards, the LA Weekly Theater Award, and the Drama-Logue Award.  "Bother!"  has been performed at over eighty major venues throughout the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Philippines–United States relations: Philippines – United States relations (Filipino: "Ugnayang Pilipinas at Estados Unidos") are bilateral relations between the United States of America and its former colony, the Republic of the Philippines.  The relationship between the United States and the Philippines has historically been strong and has been described as a Special Relationship.  The current Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, however, is supportive of a foreign policy that is less dependent on the United States, favoring one that prioritizes closer relations with China instead.  The Philippines is one of the oldest Asian partners of the U.S. and a strategically major non-NATO ally.  The United States was consistently ranked as one of the Philippines' favorite nations in the world, with 90% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. and 91% viewing Americans favorably in 2002, 90% of Filipinos viewing U.S. influence positively in 2011, 85% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. and Americans favorably in 2013, and 92% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. favorably in 2015, and 94% having confidence in United States president, Barack Obama, making the Philippines the most pro-American country in the world.  On October 20, 2016, the President of the Philippines announced a "separation" from the United States, both militarily and economically, in favor of alliances with China and Russia.

List of metropolitan areas in Northern America: This is a list of metropolitan areas in Northern America, typically defined to include Canada and the United States as well as Bermuda (UK), Greenland (Denmark), and St. Pierre and Miquelon (France).  Northern America is sometimes listed separate from Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico due to cultural and economic differences between the two regions within North America and in fact most are considered part of Latin America.  This list only includes those metropolitan areas in Canada and the United States as the other territories in Northern America lack sufficient population to have a metropolitan area.  For Canada this list includes population of the metropolitan areas in the country as counted by both the 2001 and 2011 Canadian Censuses.  For the United States the data comes from both the 2000 and 2010 United States Censuses.  Using decennial census data from both countries allows for the opportunities to compare growth rates between metropolitan areas in both countries.  Due to slight differences in how a metropolitan area is defined by both the U.S. Census Bureau and Statistics Canada, only metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) used in the United States and census metropolitan areas (CMAs) used in Canada are included in the table, while micropolitan statistical areas (µSAs) and census agglomerations (CAs) are not, as they are not defined as metropolitan areas by their respective agencies.

Free Methodist Church in Canada: The Free Methodist Church is a denomination of Methodism, which is a branch of Protestantism.  It was founded in 1860 in New York by a group, led by B. T. Roberts, who was defrocked in the Methodist Episcopal Church for criticisms of the spiritual laxness of the church hierarchy.  The Free Methodists are so named because they believed it was improper to charge for better seats in pews closer to the pulpit.  They also opposed slavery and supported freedom for all slaves in the United States, while many Methodists in the South at that time did not actively oppose slavery.  Beyond that, they advocated "freedom" from secret societies (e.g., Freemasons), which had allegedly undermined parts of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Supporting paragraphs: Halldór Laxness A. A. Milne
Answer: Halldór Kiljan Laxness