I have a C++ process running in the background that will be generating 'events' infrequently that a Python process running on the same box will need to pick up.

The code on the C side needs to be as lightweight as possible.  
The Python side is read-only.
The implementation must be cross-platform.
The data being sent is very simple.

What are my options?
Thanks
I will say you create a DLL that will manage the communication between the two. The python will load DLL and call method like getData() and the DLL will in turn communicate with process and get the data.
That should not be hard.
Also you can use XML file or SQLite database or any database to query data. The daemon will update DB and Python will keep querying. There might be a filed for indicating if the data in DB is already updated by daemon and then Python will query.
Of course it depends on performance and accuracy factors!
Simple IPC between C++ and Python (cross platform)