Setup for high volume of database writing
If it's just a few hundred writes you still can do with a relational DB. I'd pick PostgreSQL (8.0+),
which has a separate background writer process. It also has tuneable serialization levels so you
can enable some tradeoffs between speed and strict ACID compliance, some even at transaction level.
Postgres is well documented, but it assumes some deeper understanding of SQL and relational DB theory to fully understand and make the most of it.
The alternative would be new fangled "NO-SQL" system, which can probably scale even better, but at the cost of buying into a very different technology system.
Any way, if you are using python and it is not 100% critical to lose writes on shutdown or power loss, and you need a low latency, use a threadsafe Queue.Queue and worker threads to decouple the writes from your main application thread(s).
I am researching a project that would require hundreds of database writes per a minute. I have never dealt with this level of data writes before and I am looking for good scalable techniques and technologies.
I am a comfortable python developer with experience in django and sql alchemy. I am thinking I will build the data interface on django, but I don't think that it is a good idea to go through the orm to do the amount of data writes I will require. I am definitely open to learning new technologies.
The solution will live on Amazon web services, so I have access to all their tools. Ultimately I am looking for advice on database selection, data writing techniques, and any other needs I may have that I do not realize. 
Any advice on where to start?
Thanks,
CG