I just finished reading Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls (Viking, 2009), in which main character Lia reads a lot of Neil Gaiman.  At one point she "stay[s] up past midnight reading in the family room" (99); she's reading, in her words, "Neil Gaiman's latest work of genius" (100).  Other more-or-less contemporary authors mentioned include Tolkien, Butler (Octavia?), and Yolen (that would be Jane).  I wonder when characters in YA fiction are going to be reading Anderson.  Maybe they already are?