Contemporary writers that Huxley looked up to

Bertrand Russell might have been one since he did a review of his (Bertrand's book)
Which Way to Peace? "The Pacifist Case." The Listener.
Alexander Mathias could be another writer given that Huxley reviewed The Universal Constant in Living. Saturday Review of Literature

Who are other contemporary writers that Huxley looked up to?
D.H Lawrence was a close companion.

The whole babies reared in bottles idea comes from Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover. A minor character is reading a book in which "babies are reared in bottles". Lawrence's book was published several years before BNW.

Hi,
nice observation :)
I didn't know that Huxley borrowed these aspects from other books :)

However i don't know if there are other CONTEMPORARY authors Huxley looked up to but i know that Huxley loves Shakespeare and he creates a lot of situations similiar to Shakespeare novels.
The same title of the book "brave new world" comes from Miranda's word in "The Tempest" by Shakespeare

I have done a lot of research on Huxley and he was quite moved by Indian philosophy. Check out Swami Prabhavananda and Jiddu Krishnamurti. Other influences include Montaigne, Malthus, H.G. Wells, and D.H. Lawrence.

D H Lawrence was a huge influence. Huxley was friends with Lawrence and called him the most extraordinary man he'd ever met. Huxley was also very influenced by French literature- he was fluent in French and taught Orwell French at Eton.